You Are Never Going To Believe This

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Heeeelllllooooo everyone!

My gosh, WHERE IS THE TIME GOING?

I feel like these last few months have just run over me; some great, other parts not-so-great, and a few moments have just been insane.

Can we talk about “insane,” for a few minutes here? Because here is something that I cannot even wrap my head around, and I’d love it if you all could join me in shock, awe, and horror:

Set Previous Stage: Do you remember the last time I took my ex to court? It was the 3rd or 4th time we had gone due to his failure to pay child support, and as usual he whined and cried that he was poor, basically homeless, and had not a penny to his name. Then, in a shocking twist, it came out that he was married and had new kids. He begged and pleaded for one more chance to make things right, because his “kids” (not referring to the ones he abandoned) needed him, and the judge bought the whole damn charade.

Set Recent Stage: Last December, after being given another opportunity to stay out of jail and pay down his arrearages, my ex stopped contributing to the kids medical bills, daycare costs, etc, and fell behind on paying child support. I offered him an agreement to get caught up, just so we could stay out of court, he denied it, and I filed a court petition.

Set Current Stage: My ex hired an attorney. Yep! The man cannot afford to pay his child support, yet he can afford an attorney to explain why he shouldn't have to pay child support. Oh but wait! He actually CAN afford support, because after lying on his financial affadavits all these years, after hiring an attorney who has the responsibility to have his client surrender certain financial documents to the other party (us), SURPRISE SURPRISE out comes the truth; the ex and his wife make nearly 100k a year.

You read that right (although at first I didn’t think I had).

In fact when Mr. Attorney Man first send me my ex’s financial documents, my email back to him said “please tell me that I have not forgotten the order in which numbers proceed, and my ex and his wife do not make 95k a year…”

But, I had read it correctly, and yes, apparently my ex has been lying as usual.

All those years that I spent feeding my kids at the food pantry and sitting in welfare offices while trying to get back on my feet after being abandoned with two kids, my ex was living JUST FINE, and had managed to successfully hide it all.

To say that I was initially mad is an understatement, and to add to it, my ex’s new attorney is… well let's just say his identity is almost more shocking than the life my ex has been successfully hiding. But, I can’t share everything just yet because my own Mr. Attorney Man would kill me. But it's crazy. Like my craziest story yet. So after court is finished in a few weeks, when it doesn’t matter if sneaky little eyes are following this blog, make some popcorn and get your asses back here.

But what I will say, is OH WHAT AN INTERESTING COURT DATE THIS WILL BE.

You're going to want to trust me on this one.

Anyhoo, ex drama aside, we have just been busy. As. Hell.

Not counting The Girl Child convincing The Boy Child to cut her hair, the kids have been great!

So other than having a couple of our family members pretending that they had opened an in-home hair salon, we finished up the summer by filling our time with Equestrian Therapy, swimming lessons, local events, and spending a lot of time together as a family.

We went to a historical town that I've been wanting to take the kids to for years...

And the kids had a blast at their daycare fun fair.

We went to a BBQ that Frisbee Boy's Mom had, where she had made just a little bit of food.

Seriously, we practically all exploded starved to death.

And this photo... I'm just going to leave this one right here... because... butter.

Lots.

We also spent a lot of time at the local splash pad.

And an afternoon at a Chuck E. Cheese arcade birthday party

There was a family trip to the zoo, where The Boy Child made friends with a penguin.

And of course we can't forget this night...

Thankfully I did manage a few fun nights out as well, like this night, where The Guy and I got all gussied up and then I nearly walked in on some people having sex in a public bathroom.

So that was interesting.

But do you know what else is interesting terrifying?

The time I tried the face swap app and swapped faces with an American Girl doll.

The results were nothing short of terrifying, so naturally then I made The Guy do it too, and it was equally as unsettling.

I will never look at that doll the same way again.

But anyway... so yes, summer. We rocked it. And now the Girl Child is now happily settled into 4th grade, and as always she continues to find the joy in every moment of her life. It’s literally impossible to watch her zest for living and not smile, and she reminds me daily of just how lucky we all are to be walking this planet. This summer brought about it some physical triumphs, and we finally shed her braces and packed up the wheelchair. I can't believe how much stronger she is getting, and I am excited to see her continuing to progress, in what was supposed to actually get worse.

The Boy Child is in first grade (oh be still my heart!!), and spends half the day in a “regular” classroom with an aide, and half the day in a special education classroom. After having an awful teacher last year, this year is off to a great start. Unfortunately he broke his seizure free streak last week with an early morning seizure, but he hasn’t had once since so I’m still very pleased with his progress. (I'm going to interject here to link you over to an article I just finished on the ROUGH year we had last year. Did I tell you guys that his kindergarten teacher last year, walked him out to me, placed his hand in mine, and told me that she HATED my son? RAGE. All the rage.)

First day of school

As for The Guy and I, our flooded house remodel is finally finished, and I am working on a photographic post now, to take you guys on a tour!

And if I may brag for a minute (which I am warning you is about to happen right now, so if you hate that kind of stuff, here’s your warning: HURRY! Leave! CLICK HERE to be redirected away from things that rile you up!!”)….

....The nonprofit is doing AMAZING! Not only do we currently have our highest number of clients yet, but we also have staff now (although myself, and every member of our board still remain volunteers), and are networked will all the local DV agencies. We get to see the lives of DV victims changing every day, and… it just feels amazing to know that something good came out of my tragedy.

I’m a little bit proud of myself here.

But anyway, enough bragging.

As I warned you, I’ve been transitioning a lot of what used to be here, over to Facebook, just to try and simplify my life a bit. I have so much that I love to share with you all, yet don’t always have the time to sit down and do it here. As Mr. Attorney Man and I venture into our newest endeavor (anyone need to hire some motivational/informative speakers on all things DV?), I plan to continue integrating my daily life into my social media accounts so that I can take you all with me!

But before I leave, just in case no one has told you yet today. YOU are beautiful. Yep, YOU. You gorgeous, handsome, sexy, hilarious, compassionate, smart, and amazing group of people. I guarantee that if I sat down in a room full of you people, that there wouldn't be one person that I couldn’t find something to love about. YOU.

YOU are amazing, and YOU are an asset to this world. Screw everything you don’t like about yourself today, because today, you should focus on the one thing you love.

Just feel loved today.

YOU are worthy of it.

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If you are looking for a "real" post to read today, or if you want to read the article about my son's kindergarten teacher last you, I've been busy over at Babble and you can find those articles here!

To my fellow Warrior Parents, this one is for you!!!

"What The First Day Of School Means To A Special Education Parent"

   

I am SHOCKED that we don't talk about this more often. How can we not be teaching our kids this!?

"Mom Shares Important Reminder After 4-Year-Old Locks Himself In Hot Car"

It was all the gossip I was looking for, and a few surprises!

"Inside The Secret World Of Nannies"

We all need to remember the lessons learned here; because it's what our kids will remember.

"Strangers Candid Photo Of Mom In Grocery Store, Shows The Beauty In Imperfect Parenting"

This cop wins the Internet. Seriously.

"Cop Rescues Toy For Little Girl, And Posts The CUTEST Pictures Of It's Journey Home"

What an excellent reminder to anyone raising kids in a split parent household. Bravo to the family in this story!!

"Single Mom Praises Ex's New Girlfriend; Reminds Us What Co-Parenting Is Really About"