Court day

Woke up this morning and headed to court. It was pretty much the same thing since she got arrested almost a year ago. She has to pay no child support until she gets an answer from her disability claim. So basically same old shit. Another wasted vacation day. The judge says he can't make her pay if she has no income. Considering she has taken vacations, takes the kids to movies every weekend they are there, has taken small trips with the kids and stayed in hotels while there but she has no money. As of right now, I'm done going to the courtroom. The judge doesn't listen to anything I say anyways. It was continued into May sometime.

After court, we grabbed some breakfast, a bag of ice and headed home and have been chilling most of the day. We binged "the End of the F***ing World", it was only 8 1/2 hour episodes so we got through it quick. It wasn't great but it wasn't bad. It wasted some time since we've been staying caught up on the DVR lately. Then I started "Travelers" 2nd season. Took me about half an episode before I could remember what exactly the show was about. We're just now finishing up episode 6, we might be done for the night though, Cheri is looking awfully sleepy over there.

I didn't take and snaps today so sorry, no pictures. I go back to work tomorrow so we'll see what happens as far as pictures and as far as a post tomorrow.

Make up day

I know, I know. I was doing so well and them poof, I disappeared. Life got in the way or should I say, I didn't get around to it. I actually thought I wasn't going to do one today either since I ended up being away from home and when I was here for awhile, I was in the garage. Let's get started with Friday though.

I don't remember much at work, I don't usually a few days later which is one of the reasons I try to post on that day. Most of my life is spent at work, without it, I don't have much to say. I know I did take the shorter, more busier route because of the weather again but took the back roads home again. It didn't really feel much like a Friday. I think that was more because we didn't work Monday or Wednesday and we already knew we were working Saturday. It was so boring on Saturday that I didn't even post any snaps. Lucky for you.

After work, I got home, showered and grabbed my youngest son then headed to the therapist to pick up my youngest daughter. We went from there to her friends house to pick her up and then off to Milford to give them to their mother. Samantha actually went but I think that was mainly because the JackAss wasn't there and she took a friend. To be honest, I'm not sure she would have gone without her friend going. I met her and then filled up the gas tank and picked up some Long John Silvers to take home for supper.

Odd thing about Friday was that Google Timeline didn't record anywhere I went, didn't even show me at home just said they couldn't find anything.

Saturday I took the shorter (busier) route again just to be safe. We didn't get much snow Friday afternoon so I wasn't expecting bad roads to be horrible but it was really cold again, plus I figured it's Saturday at 5 am, traffic wouldn't be bad anyways and it wasn't.

The parking lot was pretty bare as there were only a few departments working. I stayed pretty busy, since I wasn't going to be there on Monday so I had to make sure all the tanks would, chemically, last until then. So I added to a bunch of them to make sure they were on the high side so with a day of running without my monitoring, that they would last. It makes me sound a lot more important than I am but nobody else does the testing so if there is a problem, there's nobody there to diagnose it so I bump up the chemicals to make sure there isn't one.

Two of those guys up there took snaps of me and posted them on their accounts so I had to pay them back. I can't show either of those because one was a video and I don't think I can record another video, the other had a word on it that I never use so I'm not posting it.

After work, I went home via back roads again and once I was home, pretty much did nothing. Except take a couple of snaps of our oldest daughter's dog who was staying with us.

Those were on our bed before I hopped in the shower. Cheri was in the bedroom doing her hair when I got home so I hung with her before going in. Didn't really do anything but catch up on the DVR that night.

Today, I got up and had some cereal, which is a rarity because I don't really eat breakfast when I'm home. Our oldest called and wanted us to meet her halfway to Indy so she could get her dog back. We hopped in the wife's car had headed out. We were meeting her about an hour and fifteen minutes away just before Grissom Air Force base. We only got about half way there when all of the sudden the car went nuts. It was like it got kicked into neutral while we were driving then went back into gear. We hit the next exit, which luckily was right after this happened and stopped at a gas station and called my stepdad. After talking with him, we started to drive back home only took an older road instead of the highway so if something happened, something would be around.

We got up to the next town and talked to our daughter, told her what happened and she said she'd go home and get the dog later. So we keep driving. She calls again and asks if we'll stop and she'll meet us there so we do. We tell her where were at and her GPS says we were an hour away. She tells us never mind, she's not driving that far so we head back out. Next thing I know she's texting and saying she's coming to get him at the house so we keep going. Next she texts us and asks us to meet just off the bypass. We were already past that point so no. Then she wants us to go home and get in the other car and meet her there. Um, no. She was annoyed, I was annoyed. I was not looking forward to her showing up at the house because I knew I wasn't going to keep my mouth shut when she started running hers. I was basically going to tell her if she would have made up her mind at the first stop she could have saved 2 hours on her trip but when she showed up, she was fine and didn't really say anything. I was out in the garage with my stepdad looking at the car anyways so I didn't see her but for a couple of minutes. She gets upset pretty easily but she's also very good at forgive and forget and just moves on.

They always make fun of my car because it's old but you don't see it with it's hood up. We (he) diagnosed it with bad spark plugs. We went and bought more but he was fighting a couple of them. He got 2 replaced and 3 out. Still fighting to get 1 of them out and also get 1 of them back in. A few years ago that part had to be rebuilt so it goes in at an odd angle. I kept telling him that the car wasn't going anywhere for awhile so he could come back sometime during the week and finish and he finally took me up on the offer.

About 5, which is when my stepdad gave up, I headed out to pick up the kids. Pretty uneventful trip, kids seemed to be in a good mood which is always a plus. She hadn't fed them yet, big surprise, so we grabbed some Little Ceaser's and headed home. Trevor went to bed an hour earlier like he usually does when he comes home from her house because he stays up way to late and then ends up being tired for school on Monday.

You got this post because I decided to post here before I did other things that I try to do everyday so now I'm behind on that stuff. So was this post long enough to make up for the lack there of the last few days? You should get a post tomorrow as I have the day off because theEx is dragging me back to court because she's trying to lower her child support. That's first thing in the morning and being as my wife hates riding in my car, I'm pretty sure we'll be going to court and back.

New Year, New Post

Another new year has come and once again, I'm promising to post more. Not that that has worked the last few years, but there you go. You got 2 posts today so that's a good start, right?

2017 had some ups and downs. I had the thought to go to Facebook and go through the last year to post the ups and downs but to be honest, I don't put my stuff out there, which tends to be the problem with me posting on here. So I guess I'll try to figure it out by memory but I'm old so it isn't all going to be there either.

• My ex finally got arrested for something so she's been drug to court for her lack of child support. That was early last year and I still haven't seen hardly anything. The court hasn't done a damn thing for me and I'm the custodial parent. More proof that Father's have no rights when it comes to their children.
• We found out our youngest daughter has been self harming herself and may have some psychological issues. She is currently going to therapy but a psychiatrist takes a few months to get into because they're just isn't very many of them.
• Our youngest daughter is also 15 now which means she has been learning to drive and has her permit. Although with all the snow lately, she hasn't been able to get out to much but she won't turn 16 until July so she'll have plenty of time to catch up in the spring.
• I started a new job in September which has been going very well. Technically, it's a new position as it's the same company but at a different plant. It's the highest paid job I've ever had (which isn't saying much) and hopefully sometime this month, I should have my own lab.
• Our oldest daughter graduated from college and is now living in Indianapolis. She's still looking for a job in her field but is carving a nice life for herself down there.
• Our oldest son and his girlfriend have moved into their own place. She has 2 children so it's the closest we are to having grandchildren at this point. My wife communicates with them all the time.
• Our youngest son signed up for a academic team, we haven't seen yet what will become of it but I'm excited for him. He's only 13 and it would be great for him.
• I had to have my gall bladder removed in October after a painful trip to the emergency room. My first surgery since getting my knee scoped way back in high school.
• Cheri hasn't had a great year as far as her MS goes. She's had a few flair ups which has caused some numbing sensations and more pain.
• We just celebrated our 2nd year in our new home and are still in love with it. Love being out of the apartment. Love having a garage and we love our neighborhood.

As you can see, there's been some ups and downs. While it may seem like the downs are more significant, I think all in all, we're doing well. We're happy and that's all we can ask for.

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.

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.

What happened to you?

I haven't post in awhile but I want to get this off my chest. Before I start, if you want to read more here about the things my ex and her husband have done in the past, check out the labels to the right. "the Ex" is the ex, "the JackAss" is her husband. Although both of them go to the same pages for the most part.

Let's start this letter off with what triggered it to begin with. After court the other day, you sent me a text saying that I have to follow the custody agreement that says we have to meet half way on your weekends. First off, like I told you on the phone, I find it highly hypocritical that you think I have to follow the custody agreement when you don't. That same agreement says you have to pay child support, which you haven't for 3 years. Secondly, I know what the law says, you were the one who didn't. I didn't say I wouldn't meet you half way because you weren't paying support. I just took advantage of the fact that you're not that bright. I didn't have a problem meeting you half way until you moved 2 hours away from your children to begin with. If it was for a job or something, I would understand but it was because that's what your husband wanted. To be closer to his family (not kids.)

I remember when we were together and we used to shake our head at the deadbeat parents that we knew. We couldn't believe the things they were doing to their children. Guess what? You have become one of those. What the hell happened to you? You were the one that wanted kids so bad and now you don't even take care of them. Other than spending every other weekend with them, you do absolutely nothing to take care of their needs.

Do you know who does? I do. The person that you think is an asshole and that is damaging your relationship with your kids, specifically your daughter. I'm not "turning her against you", you are. She sees you for what you are and I'm sorry that you can't face that. She knows who just paid for her drivers ed, she knows who will help her get a car and help her with her insurance. She knows that her stepmom (who she calls mom on occasion) will be there to help her pick out her prom dresses and anything else she needs help with. That's why she refers to us as her parents to anyone that asks. Not her dad and stepmom, her parents. She knows which parents are always there when she needs something. Don't be blind, she still loves you, you're her mom. She has just lost all respect for you.

That all started to fall apart when you married your current husband. Not that they hated that you got remarried, but the fact that you wouldn't protect them or stand up for them when he talked bad about them. You didn't stand up for your son when he was calling him names. You let him order them around and make them do everything in the small amount of time they had to spend with you. Sure, they can tolerate him more now because he's not as much as a dick as he was before, but that doesn't mean they have forgotten. They know which parent drove an hour and a half to pick them up at a mall because he went after your son.

What I really want to know though, is why you think you are above all of us working people? You have never wanted to work (nobody really does.) That was probably our greatest crutch when we were married. Did you not see a problem when we went to do our taxes one year and you had 13 different W2's? Do you remember when we used to talk bad about those people who lived off the system? Those who used to pop kids out for more welfare and then not take care of the them? Guess who has become that person now? You filed for disability because of joint pain? Seriously? We're in our 40's, we all have joint pain. You've never wanted to work and this is your way of getting out of it. Thank God the kids have me to look up to for a stable work influence. They see at least one parent that goes to work every day, regardless if he is sick or not, in order to provide for them. What absolutely kills me is how your father would feel about this. He was a hard worker who worked through all his aches and pains and the person you probably looked up to the most and you have become the complete opposite.

After all that, I got an email today that said you have filed for a Motion to Modify Support. You want to lower your child support payments? You already pay less than most people pay for 1 child and you have 2. I don't really care what they make the support payments because I haven't seen anything anyways so all you're doing is making less of an impact each week on what you owe. Personally, I don't know why the courts are even letting you take me back since you haven't paid in so long. Then again, the system has been in your favor ever since we separated. Even though I'm the custodial parent, I'm still the father and the system is set up for you to win.

I'm not saying I'm the perfect parent, I'm far from it. The difference is, I know what my flaws are, where you apparently have none. The difference is, I'm there for my kids, financially and personally. The difference is, I have provided a stable home environment for my kids, you've moved at least 10 times in the last 7 years. The difference is, I'm here, each and every day for our kids. They don't hear from you until they get the text every 2 weeks asking if they are coming over.

Snoozing, on a Thursday afternoon

I got another phone call from the school on my way to work, for the 2nd day in a row there was another 2 hour delay. Yesterday it was because of fog, now I leave at 5:30 in the morning and the fog wasn't that bad. I can understand delaying school if you can't see 5 feet in front of you but like I said, it wasn't that bad. This morning it was because it rained most of the day yesterday and it got chilly last night and froze over. The neighborhood was completely iced over and slick but once I got out on the main roads they were fine. I'm guessing that both delays were due to the fact that a lot of the school district is rural roads.

I stayed busy at work but that was mainly because the 3rd shift girl didn't really do the job she's supposed to do and decided to do other things. Which was fine because it was the kind of orders that required me to be on the forklift more then pulling parts again. Between taking care of those customers orders and loading the usual morning trucks on Thursday (our busiest morning in regards to trucks), I didn't really finish her stuff until almost 11:30. Then I had to gather a few customer pickups that took most of my afternoon. What sucked was most of that was outside and it wasn't really nice out.

Came home and haven't done a damn thing but nap and watch TV. The Ex has asked to take the kids out for supper tomorrow. That will be only be the 2nd time since Christmas that they have seen her. Or rather, Samantha has seen her twice, this will be the first time Trevor hangs out with her. That is mainly due to the fact that her husband is in the hospital again and the kids still refuse to be around him.

Another very active night, I'm wondering if I need to change the setting on my Fitbit. I had it set for a heavy sleep because I generally am, but on that setting, it's more sensitive. I do remember waking up once because I was on my back again but I rolled over and went back to sleep so why it says 8 times is beyond me. I'm going to change the setting for tonight and see what transpires.

I told you I snoozed this afternoon. I started off in the recliner and then some of Trevor's friends came to the door so I got woken up. I notice Cheri had disappeared to the bedroom so I crawled into bed and we had an afternoon nap until her alarm went off for her to start getting supper together.

I'm pretty much on pace with yesterday, I guess my average workday is going to be around 6000 to 7000 steps, once in awhile I'll get higher but I get the feeling it'll stick around there. I really need to get out walking after work, on the couple of days it's been decent enough to I just didn't feel like it and now it's just to freaking cold. You can also verify what I told you earlier, I didn't do crap when I got home.

If you want to connect with me on my Fitbit -  www.fitbit.com/user/48RJ6J

Home, Kids and Work - aka: Life

As of right now, we are waiting to hear from the bank on the exact day of our closing. He was estimating the 30th a couple of weeks ago and I know that all we were waiting on was for the appraisal on the house to come back to make sure we weren't overpaying otherwise they wouldn't have given us the loan. We heard back from the realtor and they received the appraisal on Thursday so I would assume the bank got it as well. So like I said, we are waiting on the bank.

The realtor is supposed to take us into the house tomorrow evening so we can measure windows and get a better feel for the place. That will hopefully help us how to set up the living room. Not that it really matters, we can always figure that out when we move.

We've been trying to figure out the layout of some of the rooms. Cheri has most of it figured out but we're not sure how we are going to do the living room. I made the comment tonight that we won't know how to do it until we figure out where the outlets are so we can put our recliners next to those. Have to be able to plug in the laptops and phones while we're watching TV. There is also a smaller living room in the basement that we planned on hooking up a TV with a couch and recliner down there. We'll hook up the game systems down there as well so when the kids have friends over, they'll have a place to hang. Just one problem, we need to get a TV to go down there. We could probably use the TV out of our bedroom but it's an old one and it'll be a pain to hook up these modern game systems to that old ass TV. Needless to say, we'll probably be shopping for a TV when we get our tax check in the new year.

I'm hoping once we move I will be able to pick up walking again since I won't have to wait until the kids get off the bus at my moms. I can go straight home and go for a walk before they even get home. Not to mention we will be living in a neighborhood so I can walk without traffic as well. I also know how

The kids on again, off again relationship with their mother is off at the moment. They didn't want to go over for their last weekend because they can't stand the JackAss. You would think when your kids hatred for your husband out weights their love for their mother, that the mother would do something about it. The Ex got upset when the kids said they weren't coming over anymore and told them not to bother coming over for Thanksgiving and they haven't talked since. I'm not sure how long it will last, especially with Christmas coming but I know Samantha is actually ticked off at her mom at how she handled the whole situation so we'll see.

Not looking forward to tomorrow at work. We are switching over to a new computer system because we were bought out earlier in the year. Our system was newer then our purchaser and instead of them upgrading, it was cheaper to downgrade us. It'll probably be a mess all week.

Randomness

I've been MIA for a long time now, I haven't really done a whole lot worth talking about but I'm going to try to do some regular updates every so often. Try being the key word there.

Not much going on this Good Friday. The kids went to theEx's last night. I told her she could have them today and tomorrow but they come back tomorrow evening so I can have them for Easter. Then they start spring break next week as well. I don't think I've mentioned that she moved again, she now lives an hour and a half away so I have a 45 minute drive, one way, to meet her on her weekends now. They moved (supposedly) closer to his family and further from hers, which is I'm sure what the JackAss wanted. I imagine, the weekends she takes the kids will get less and less as we go on.

Back to today though. Not a whole lot planned, we need to get some shopping done but Cheri is napping right now because she hasn't been able to sleep worth a crap in awhile. She'll sleep a couple of hours, wake up for awhile, sleep for a couple more. Even the sleep she gets is restless so I don't know if you can count it so sometimes, she has to take a good nap in the afternoons which is what she's doing now. Which gives me time to catch up on some of my recorded sports. Watching the White Sox game from yesterday right now and plan on watching some (depends on how long she sleeps) Bulls games afterwards.

I've been working where I'm at now for over 6 months so the job is going fine. I don't mind the job so I don't hate what I do, I just hate that I have to work, like millions of other people. I would prefer to be rich and lazy instead of broke and lazy.

I have been reading still and have finished some books, I just don't ever take the time to post a review, which is pathetic on my part because it's not like I write out huge reviews. One of these days, I may even update my books page on this blog, maybe.

I haven't only slacked on this blog throughout the last few months, I've let most of my tumblr's go as well so don't be too offended. I have, however, been working on my baseball card blogs. My Sports Obsession has been pretty steady, a few posts a week. My Sports Obsession-Index is a little more sporadic because I've been posting on the next 2 more often. My Personal Collections, where I post pictures of all my cards, tagged with which collection it belongs 2. The goal is to eventually have all my cards posted, I'm still going through My Sports Obsession blog and adding what I've already added there before I can even start posting the newer cards. Last but not least, My Baseball Card Obsession, which is really my newest obsession. Right now, I'm doing the same thing as My PC Collections blog where I'm going through My Sports Obsession and copying stuff over here. The only difference is, on this blog, I'm posting any single card I can find. The majority of the blog right now is cards from My Sports Obsession, but it also has cards from other people's blogs. So eventually, when I get caught up, It'll be a database of a crap load of cards. You can search by player, team, or even the set of the card. When I collected back in the day, I wanted every card that I didn't have, this blog is my way of collecting that way without having to physically purchase every card. You can see why it's my latest obsession.

The usual.

Psst. Over here.

I know you’re not used to seeing anything here. As a matter of fact, my last post was almost a February month ago (25 days). I’ve had stuff to say, but to be honest, I just generally don’t feel like taking the time to say it. The main reason behind this post was because I hit my 4 year anniversary for this blog earlier in the week so I felt obligated to post something. I guess I’ll just update you on what all is going on.

I have the kids this weekend. There were some issues with the JackAss and the way he treats my kids so I took away the every weekend to the state mandatory every other weekend. The kids don’t like seeing their mother less but they say they understand because they can’t stand the JackAss. On top of that, theEx hasn’t worked much since she quit her factory job and has gotten behind on support. In January, she went to the court to get her support lowered but all that did was bring the fact that she was behind to the court’s attention and they scheduled a court date to find out why she is behind. Worse than that, she didn’t show up for court, called and said she couldn’t make it because of the weather. The judge didn’t like the fact that she wasn’t there and charged her with contempt of court and she now has a warrant for her arrest. I haven’t told her, I figure she’ll figure it out when she gets pulled over for something. I did tell her sister, I figured if she wants to tell her, she would. I don’t know if she has or not.

As much as the kids enjoy going to their moms every weekend, I’m pretty sure they’ve enjoyed being home every other as well. Samantha tends to spend the weekends with her friends, she doesn’t get to do that much during the week because of school and her mom lives to far away to do it when she’s over there so she’s been taking advantage of being home.

Trevor is taking advantage of having no sister home by inviting his friends over. They pretty much sit in his room playing Xbox all night long but that’s what boys do. I’m just glad they’ve been hanging out with friends.

I went and watched my niece (technically ex-niece) play basketball. I do love to support the kids in their sports. The bad part is it makes me mad that Samantha quit during tryouts for her school team. I really like watching her play softball, but I was a basketball player and I would have loved to watch her play. I do need to remember to sign her up for softball. I have her set up to go to a softball camp at her school so I’m hoping she’ll get noticed by some of the coaches since she got screwed out of the traveling team. She was just as good as the other girls during tryouts and didn’t make the team. I had other parents tell me that she should have been on it. Hopefully she’ll get a good coach on her team this year.

If you remember, almost a year ago I left my job of 14 years because I hated the swing shift hours they switched to. I got a job where my brother works before getting laid off 5 months later and now work where I do. My brother just informed me last week that his job is switching to the same swing shift hours that I worked at my first job listed. So at this point, I’m glad they laid me off. At my current job, I put in a bid for a different job in a different plant and am waiting to see if I got it. I’m going against 3 other candidates, one of those would be my group leader. While she has way more experience, she has a pretty crappy attitude and she’s been in trouble at work for it so I’m really hoping that counts against her.

Cheri is starting to get going on her annual MS Walk. She always does a bunch of stuff trying to raise money for when we walk. While she gets lots of support from the family as far as them coming out and walking for us, them walking doesn’t help raise money. We’ve asked, but not really pushed that those coming out to raise a little bit of money to turn in. So this year, Cheri is a little bummed and really debating on walking at all. She gets tired of going through all the efforts of raising money and being the only one that does so we’ll see how that turns out.

That’s about all that’s going on over here. We’re trying to stay warm like a lot of the country. I’m going to work every day while the kids get days off all over the place, pansies. Listening to music and reading books. Watching a lot of TV and a lot of sports. The usual.

Catching up

I was updating my “stats” spreadsheet and realized that I hadn’t posted here in about a week and a half so I’m going to try to get something out.

I started a daily journal (private) so I stopped posting that here, the good thing about that is I can go back to see if anything has happened in the past week and a half.

Before I do, I should mention that my 12 year old daughter has figured out boys, damn it.  She has a “boyfriend”.  The quotes would be because I basically told her, you can call him boyfriend if you want, it’s just a title, but there will be no dates.  You can see him at school functions and school and that’s it.  He keeps begging her to come to his house and I won’t allow it, she’s freaking 12, I don’t think so.

Tuesday, October 21st

Samantha got invited to a friends brothers football game so she went home with her friend after school so she could go.  When they were dropping her off afterwards, I got a phone call that the friends mom wanted to talk to me.  So I went outside and she told me that when they got to the game, Samantha took off with her boyfriend and her friend is required to sit and watch the game to support her brother.  So the friend invited her, their mom paid for her to get in (Samantha had money, the mom opted to pay) and Samantha ditched her.  So needless to say, she got a lecture when I got upstairs.  The mom had said that the friend didn’t want her to say anything so I just had a conversation with Samantha and steered her to what I wanted her to admit and when she did, she got lectured.  I was so disappointed in her, and I let her know it.  She was told to apologize to her friend the next day at school and she lost her phone for 2 days.  She got multiple lectures from the family about it, hopefully she learned her lesson.

I knew boyfriends would just cause problems.

Thursday and Friday, October 23 and 24th

We had inventory at work these 2 days.  I ran a forklift both days but I ran the stand up forklift.  Now I used to walk for 12 hour days and my legs would be tired but this was actually worse.  Since it’s the stand up forklift, I’m basically standing in one spot the whole time, my legs were killing me.  What’s worse is there is a pedal under my left foot so I have to keep some weight on that leg so I couldn’t even shift my weight back and forth.  I put 12 hour days in both days and about 5 hours on Saturday as well, but most of Saturday was sitting around.

Friday night, October 25th

Went to the high school football game.  Samantha wants to go to the home games now because her friends go and more specifically, her “boyfriend” so I have been taking her and then sit with my cousins who have a son on the team.  He’s a freshman so he doesn’t get much playing time at all on the varsity squad but he’s out there and dressed and may end up starting as soon as next year.  The real reason I go is because they set up a elephant ear cart.  I love elephant ears.

On the way home, in the parking lot to our apartment.  I pulled up and there were 2 cars parked next to each other, talking.  I pulled up, they didn’t move, so I quickly tapped the horn.  Nobody moved.  So I quickly tapped it again, still nobody moved.  So I laid on the horn for 10 seconds.  They finally moved and proceeded to the parking spot.  Apparently, one of the cars was the same neighbor that hates me because I make him turn down his stereo.  I got out of the car and he mumbled, you didn’t have to lay on the horn like that.  I said apparently I did, you weren’t moving.  He said we would have moved, you didn’t have to honk the horn.  I said how about you think about someone other than yourself for once and I walked away as he was mumbling something else.

Saturday, October 26th

In my last post, I mentioned that Samantha had wrote her mom a note about what she was feeling.  She was texting with her in the car and asked if she read the letter and she said she had so she asked her what she thought and her response was, you have the right to your opinions but I’m staying with the JackAss.  So Samantha essentially told her that she wasn’t going over there anymore and theEx said ok.  That was it.  Haven’t really talked since.

Earlier in the week, my mom had stumbled across the fast that the Michigan women’s basketball program was having a basketball camp for elementary and junior high kids so she signed Samantha up for it.  So Saturday morning, Samantha and I headed up to Ann Arbor.  We got there early enough that we walked around the Crisler Arena beforehand.  It was pretty cool, looked at some trophies and such, then we watched the elementary kids do their clinic.  Eventually Samantha got to go to her camp and I sat and watched.  They basically set up multiple clinics and you rotated to each one and one of them was a tour of the locker room.  The women’s players are the ones that led the clinics so she got to interact with them as well.  After the clinic, they got free posters and got to get all the team’s autographs.  Samantha had a great time and I had a good time just being there.

Here’s the photos from that day.

		Michigan Women’s Basketball Camp VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Monday, October 27th

Took Trevor to the library, he finished the 9 books he grabbed last time and got 7 more.  He’s definitely a reader.  Of course, that may be different if I didn’t have the no electronics for an hour after school rule.

Wednesday, October 29th

Our annual tradition of my brothers family, my family and my mom and stepdad get together took place Wednesday night.  We all get together, go to the pumpkin patch where all the kids pick out pumpkins, then we go back to my mom’s where the kids carve them out.  Then we sit down for supper and usually celebrate my stepfathers birthday which was on the 26th.  He’s only 56 now but apparently my mom was dyslexic that evening and put 65 on the cake.  Nobody said anything until after we sang, he blew out candles and photos were taken.

Thursday, October 30th

Samantha had her 2nd choir concert of the year.  It was technically the high school concert but they had a choir camp a few weeks ago and the kids who went to the camp, did a song during the fall concert.  She sang and danced to the Purple People Eater.

Friday, October 31st

Halloween.  Every year we go over to my grandparents house for a chili supper before we take the kids around trick or treating.  The kids are all getting older now and we actually only had 4 kids go.  Trevor went as Steve from Minecraft ($25 for a cardboard box head, ridiculous).  Samantha went and walked around but didn’t dress up.  We usually stick to a route that we’ve done since I was a baby, but since it was in the 30’s and snowing, we shortened it up.  Yes, it was snowing, in October. 

After trick or treating, we hung at the grandparents house for a little bit and then I took my brother’s kids home, or at least the son because the daughter was coming home with us.  We met theEx and dropped off Trevor and then headed home.

Saturday, November 1st.

I haven’t done anything all day, the only thing I have to say is I can’t believe it’s November already.

theEx and Jackass return

It’s been awhile because not too much has happened but it has hit the fan now.  A couple of weeks ago, theEx and the JackAss had taken the kids to Michigan City to the outlet mall.  I received a text from Samantha asking me to come get her and Trevor because the JackAss had gotten out of his wheelchair and chased Trevor in the middle of a store threatening to kick his ass.  So we drove all the way out (an hour or so) and picked them up and brought them home.  TheEx claimed she never saw it but the kids say she was standing right there when it happened.

The next day, TheEx had texted Samantha about it.  I’m not going to post screen caps (I do have them) but it’s not my conversation so I don’t feel I have the right to and I’m not going to ask but I will tell you what it said in my own words.

• theEx asked why she didn’t come to her instead of texting me.
• Samantha said she was scared and wasn’t thinking then apologized.
• theEx asked if she thought the JackAss would hurt her or Trevor.
• She responded with maybe.
• theEx said you know he would never hurt you and asked what I was going to do about it.
• Sam responded with he’s not going to do anything but gave us the option of only going over every other weekend.  She also told her she wanted to see her but the JackAss gets in the way.
• theEx says that they can stay with me until she decides what to do with the JackAss.  Explains that she doesn’t know what she’s going to do as far as getting a divorce or not and admits to them not getting along and then asked if she would like it if she wasn’t with the JackAss anymore.
• Sam responds with if that’s what you want, it’s your life but they don’t feel safe around him.
• theEx asked why.
• She says he threatens us a lot.
• theEx asked if she’d be willing to give him another chance.
• Sam says no.

After that, nothing.  Until the next day when the JackAss sent a text from theExes phone, pretending to be her.  It said, and I quote (except his name) “JackAss and I are  staying together.and if u don’t like tobad.he makes me happy.’' As you can tell, it isn’t hard to tell when he’s texting.  TheEx may be spineless but she can spell and use punctuation.

After that text, I sent this conversation.

Then nothing for over a week.  The kids stayed with me the following weekend and then on Tuesday of the next week, theEx text Samantha and said that she was taking the JackAss to a doctor’s appointment on Friday but she would pick them up on Saturday for the rest of the weekend.  I talked to both of the kids about their feelings about going back.  Trevor said he’d go back and Samantha said she didn’t want to.  So I sent her a text saying she could pick Trevor up but Samantha doesn’t want to go.  She just responded with ok, I’ll text when we’re back in town. She didn’t even ask about Samantha not coming.

She started to text Samantha again last Saturday asking if she was willing to be around the JackAss, Samantha said she would as long as she got to see her.  TheEx then told her that she would have to leave her phone here and not bring it over there.  Samantha then decided that she didn’t want to go over there anymore.  Samantha got upset and was crying.  She ended up blocking both of their numbers when the JackAss started texting her.

Sunday, I get a phone call from Trevor, I answered, he basically said mom wants to talk to you.  She gets on the phone and asks to talk to Samantha.  I assume that was all set up because they believe that I wouldn’t take a call from her.  I called her out of her room and told her that her mom was on the phone and she said she didn’t want to talk to her.  So I told her, and she said she had been texting her but she’s not answering so I told her that she blocked both of their numbers on Saturday when the JackAss started texting her.

I ended up talking with Samantha after I hung up with her and basically told her that she needs to at least tell her mom why she’s not talking to her.  I asked if she wanted me to arrange a sit down with her and her mom, she said no.  I asked if she wanted Cheri and/or I to sit down with her and her mom.  No.  So I suggested her writing a note and we would get it to her and she said she would.

About half an hour later she came out with a piece of paper.  I assumed it would be about a paragraph but it was a full page and a half.  It was very well written, she explained how much she disliked him and brought up what he does to make theEx miserable.  I was seriously impressed with it, well thought out and worded nicely.  She even said she wanted to be there on Friday to give it to her.

That’s basically where we stand now.  I’m sure I’m getting blamed for Samantha’s lack of communication, but I really don’t have anything to do with it. She has been making her own decisions the whole way.

Journal, August 31st-September 1st

Yesterday

Did nothing.  Worked on my cards most of the day.  I got all my new stuff logged into the computer, I’ll probably put them away tomorrow.  I also logged in all my White Sox cards from 1973-1982 so I’m slowly making headway there.  My cousin keeps sending me cards and I don’t always know what I have and what I don’t until I can get everything logged into Google Drive spreadsheets.

Apparently the kids spent the whole day at the JackAss’ new current home, rehab.  Why theEx spends the few days she has the kids all day sitting at a rehab home is beyond me.  I’ve raised my kids to polite and now I keep telling them they need to tell their mom that they don’t want to be there but they won’t.  I guess that’s my fault.

Today

12:20 pm

It’s the first of the month, so I had to go back and figure out all my stats that I keep for last month.  I had to charge my old phone for a little bit before I could finish some of them since I switched phones a week or so ago.

Cheri is gone today, she went to visit our oldest daughter at college so I have the house all to myself until tonight when I get the kids back from theEx.  My day by myself so far has consisted of listening to Spotify while I have the White Sox game from Saturday afternoon on, while doing online stuff.  My plans for later, watch the White Sox game from yesterday, while listening to music and doing my online stuff.  Some exciting stuff here, I know.  The only decision I have to figure out is, doing I want to do some stuff with my blogs or work on my cards.  Decisions, decisions.

3:45 pm

Just finished up filling up the Tumblr accounts for the week.  I really don’t have much for a few of them.  I had to set a couple to 1 post a day just to last all week.  Maybe I should spend the rest of the day going through my Feedly as that is where I get most of that content.

It has been pouring rain for about half an hour now.  Hope it stops before Cheri goes to make her way home.  Her car sucks ass in the rain, it slides easily.  We put new tires on it and it still slides, it just must be too light of a car or something.  Hers looks heavier than mine but mine does pretty good in the slippery conditions.  Who knows?  We’ll see if she even leaves early enough to get home before it’s dark since technically, she shouldn’t be driving in the dark.  I predict it’ll be way after dark, she won’t want to leave Skyler any earlier than she should.

6:30 pm

I’ve been pretty much going through Feedly since what I wrote up above.  I’ve gotten through a bunch but have only found a couple for my blogs.  This isn’t going too well.  I still have 14,500 to go though, but I have to get my shoes on and go get the kids.  I’m going to grab some supper while I’m out as well since I haven’t eaten anything all day.  Which is typical with me, if Cheri doesn’t make something for me to eat, I’ll just sit here until I get my lazy ass up to go get something.  In this case, I knew I had to leave the apartment this evening so I just waited it out.

8:00 pm

So I go and pick the kids up from theEx, and guess who is in the car?  The JackAss.  So theEx made the kids sit at the rehab center yesterday for 9 hours and then today he was allowed to leave.  She took Samantha to a movie on Saturday night, and then they all went to a movie today.  I wish I had their kind of cash lying around.  It would be nice if they would actually use some of that money to take care of the kids, instead of the measly support they give me.  How they have any money is beyond me, they have to be drowning in hospital bills.  Actually, I know how they still have money, they don’t pay any of their bills.  That’s why they’ve lived in 8 or 9 places in the last 4 years.  They stay until they can’t afford it, then move on.  I don’t know why people keep renting them places.

11:50 pm

I was right, Cheri got home after 9.  It’s tough always being right.  I’m heading for bed soon, although I’m not tired which isn’t a good thing.

What I clicked on to read today.  I read all kinds of things in my Feedly, but these I found in other places or a link in Feedly.

• Dodgers successfully utilize 4-man shift to get runner out at home (via Facebook)
• Wolverines Q&A: Hoke on Appalachian State, Notre Dame (via Feedly)
• Why Marvel isn’t Promoting ‘Big Hero 6′ (via Feedly)
• Stan Lee Confirms Marvel is Working on a Black Panther Movie (via Feedly)

Check out them all – Random Thoughts from a Random Guy, My Sports Obsession, My Sports Obsession Tumblr, My Sports Obsession – Wolverines, My Sports Obsession – Index, A Day in the Life of a Nobody, My Life (private), and Cats Are Cuter.  I also post on Too Many Manninghams.

• Yesterday – I posted one post to MSO-Tumblr.
• Yesterday – I posted the usual Sunday posts to Random Thoughts From A Random Guy, My Sports Obsession and Too Many Manninghams.
• Today – I posted a card of Carl Yastrzemski to My Sports Obsession
• Today – I loaded up the Tumblr accounts.  All 4 of those had one post go out today.

Here’s a listing of all the new (to us) episodes that we watched tonight.

Yesterday

• Castle (Netflix DVD – 5 episodes)
• Unforgettable (DVR)
• Hell on Wheels (DVR)
• Falling Skies (2 episodes - live)
• the Strain (DVR)

Today

• Partners (2 episodes – live)
• Under the Dome (live)
• Unforgettable (DVR)

Journal, August 17th

Noon

I stayed in bed till 11 this morning because I didn’t sleep worth a crap last night.  I kept waking up, I don’t know if I kept rolling onto my back or what.  When I roll onto my back, Cheri says I stop breathing then I wake up gasping for air.  I know at one point when I woke up, my thought was that I was going to be tired at work, then I thought it out and remembered the kids weren’t here, so it was still the weekend.

8:00

About 6:00 I got a text from Samantha telling me to pick them up at the local theater, which is completely the opposite direction of where we meet and further.  So I responded to her and told her I will text her mom, because I get tired of them trying to do everything through her.  So I sent back, No, you have to go down 19 to go home.  Try again.  She responded that her and the JackAss were going to a movie at 7:30.  I responded with then we can meet a little earlier on their way.  She responded with just meet me at the McDonalds then.  The McDonalds that she is referring to, is probably less that 5 minutes from our apartment, and is on their way to the theaters, but she wanted me to drive 20 minutes to the theaters to pick them up.  Yeah, I don’t think so.

When I met them to pick the kids up, the JackAss yelled out the window that Trevor needed a shower, that he hadn’t showered since Thursday night, like he was proud of the fact.  I just said back, that doesn’t surprise me and they always shower on Sunday nights.  He said that thinking he’d get a rise out of me, I’m not sure why he even tries to bother, I never let what he says bother me.  He’s just an idiot, and apparently a great parent to be proud of the fact that he let a child go 3 days without a shower.  Douchebag.

We planned on watching another Castle:  season 5 disc but they sent us disc 4 instead of disc 3.  I probably wouldn’t have even noticed except they did a previously on because the first episode was the 2nd part to the last episode on the disc we didn’t get.  I called Netflix and asked them to send disc 3 while I keep disc 4 and they said they would, so they were cool about it.

11:00

Not really tired yet, and that’s not good news.  I did get all my cards logged in and put away today.  I forgot about doing my Tumblrs and ended up working on My Life so maybe I’ll get to the Tumblrs tomorrow.  Not sure how much longer I’ll be up but I’m not really that tired.  I’d rather be tired on Mondays then work 7 days a week so I guess I shouldn’t complain.  Although the 7 day paychecks were nice when I was getting them.

What I clicked on to read today.  I read all kinds of things in my Feedly, but these I found in other places or a link in Feedly.

• Missouri woman uses texting savvy to get stolen car back, giving her just the “miracle” that she needed (via Facebook) – Wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be.
• Inside the White Sox (via Twitter) – I wanted to read about Mark Buehrle’s return to Chicago.
• Smashfuse (via FuckingHomePage) – A website that combines trending topics all across the social media network.

Check out them all – Random Thoughts from a Random Guy, My Sports Obsession, My Sports Obsession Tumblr,  My Sports Obsession – Wolverines, My Sports Obsession – Index, A Day in the Life of a Nobody, My Life (private), and Cats Are Cuter.  I also post on Too Many Manninghams.

• I ran out on all my Tumblrs, I never got around to posting more, maybe tomorrow.
• I did post my usual Sunday posts of This Week On… to Random Thoughts From A Random Guy, My Sports Obsession and Too Many Manninghams.
• I posted through June 15th, 2009 (15 posts) on My Life.

Here’s a listing of all the new (to us) episodes that we watched tonight.

• Satisfaction (DVR) – Another character is going to start screwing with the main characters relationship.
• Hell on Wheels (DVR) – Mr. Bohanon is back with the railroad.
• the Last Ship (DVR) – They are giving the virus to shipmates to see if the vaccine works.
• the Strain (DVR) – More people are finding out about the creatures/virus while the government is trying to cover it all up.

• Dear Zachary (Netflix streaming) – This was recommended on the Tonight Show by Jimmy Fallon.  OMG!  He did not say enough about it.  It was a really good documentary but he should have said keep the tissues handy.  It will make you angry at the system, and sad for the family.  Cheri and I both gave it 5 stars.
• Frozen Ground (Netflix streaming) – This wasn’t too bad, it was kind of a thriller but more in the sense that you think they guy is going to get away with it.  Cheri gave it 4 stars, I gave it 3 on the account of it being so quiet and dark.
• the Iceman (Netflix streaming) – Not too bad either.  I always liked gangster type movies.  The Iceman was a hitman for the mob and this is based on his mob life.  Cheri got a phone call and talked through half of it so she can’t give a star count.  I, however, will give it 3 stars.