Walking a thin line

I just finished haggling over visitation time with my ex for the kids this summer. I feel like I just had a long negotiation with a car salesman. UGH!

I am not about to give him exactly what he wants, because he thinks we are just waiting to work around him. Wrong!

I also did not want to let it out of the bag that we are moving into town during that month. He doesn't need to know until 30 days after the move is complete. (legally) Besides, he didn't tell me he was moving and didn't tell me he had moved until the kids mentioned it. So I am only treating him as he treats me.

He wanted them the first week of July. I don't think so. We will be moving. I don't want the kids gone while we move and come back to a different house. Moving is going to be tough enough for our youngest. That would be wrong. At least now, after negotiations, (HA! I was going to get my way regardless.) they will be leaving during the 2nd week of July and coming back the first week of August. Enough time for us to get the new house comfy and hopefully the old house sold.

We will be signing the lease on the new place this week. Hoping to get through the moving process without emotionally ripping myself apart.

New chapter?

I found access to the account. Last time I wrote I tried to update my account to be associated with my new email address and it the process did something where I locked myself out. It took some time, but I got back in.

Since I last wrote K and I have been trying to decide if we should move closer to where I work. Our oldest two at home are going to be going to that high school, therefore they will be riding into work with me everyday. The drive is about 30 minutes each way. The gas prices aren't going down anytime soon. K goes to grad classes over there - 45 minutes each way. So we are spending a whole lot of time in the car, spending a lot of cash on gas, and not close to anything where we are now.

We, however, own our home here. Well, we are making payments to the mortgage company. Once we move, we can try to sell, but we can't carry two payments, so if we make the move, we jump and have to hope we can sell fast.

We have found two homes we like. One is within walking distance of the school. The other is about a 10 minute drive, but is 800 sq. feet bigger, and $300 a month less expensive. The bigger, less expensive house, is actually in a very good neighborhood, but when K did a search on the property, the owners owe $9000 in taxes and when I did a search on the company trying to rent it - they aren't the same people and the company Home Advocate Trustees, seems to be slightly shady. I don't want to move the family into a home we may get pushed out of.

The smaller, more expensive home, is in a great location, but the layout is, well, odd. We can get a two year lease on the smaller home, so it would see us through any fall out from the house here, but I can't seem to wrap my head around the layout.

We need to make a decision soon. They would like us to move in July 1. We have to decide.

A new vehicle... a better feel?

Is it strange to say that by getting a truck again I feel better? More like me?

Yeah, its ok to say it, I know it is strange. However, I can't deny I feel better having a truck to drive again.

K was very supportive, although cautious. I could see it. However, I did show her that I was saving money on the interest rate and I think she saw that I just wanted it.

Now I get to start playing with upgrades. :)

How to make the truck unique to me. I am not going to go all nutty, K wouldn't let me even if I tried. However, a few things here and there she will be ok with. When things need replaced I will try to upgrade them to better made and better looking things.

Spring break is coming to an end fast! How do I hold it off? I am not ready to return to work. Not yet. I still have so much I want to do around the house, so much to do to prepare to go back to the classroom. I am just not ready.

I am not ready, I will miss time with K.

Robotics??

Yeah, robotics. I am now the robotics faculty sponsor at the high school I teach at.

I have been so busy lately. I am not getting home much before 8 every night and am working on Saturdays as well. Today was one of the first days in two weeks that I haven't talked a great deal about robotics. Most days, even while I am at school trying to teach the actual subjects I am responsible for, I am surrounded by robotics stuff.

Please do not get me wrong, I am really interested in it and I enjoy it, but I need more time. There is not enough time in the day to do everything this huge project requires.

What to do

My father has had a heart attack. At this point we are not sure how serious. Thankfully it wasn't a massive heart attack. He is currently in the hospital in ICU. The have run one test, an ultrasound, to see if they could see the damage.

Tomorrow they are going to run a series of tests beginning at 6:30 am. They should have the results in the afternoon sometime.

We are short on funds. I don't know what to do.

My week as a single mom

Seems I have a lot to learn about running a house with four kids in it alone. I am hoping NEVER EVER to have to do it again, for any long period of time beyond what I did.

While K was away I thought I would be able to handle things. Well, there were no hospital visits, no one committed any crimes, and no one got sick. I didn't stay on top of things for as well as i should have though.

C had a project due at school, it got neglected. He kept saying it was being done at school. I believed him. I was up with him Wed night finishing it with him. trying to make it right.

I wasn't able to stay on top of things the way K can when she is home. It pointed out how hard it is to be a good parent while trying to work full time. Especially with a career that doesn't end when you leave you work place. While K was away I didn't do much grading or lesson planning, which gave me tons of things to do after K returned.

Single parents need a great support system in order to make it work. Raising children takes a great deal of energy and when a parent is put in a situation where they are completely alone in looking after the children, they need help.

I don't not know what the solution is, but there needs to support for them.

I thank K for everything she does that she doesn't get recognized for. She is the support system our children need. I wouldn't be able to do this alone.

She's coming home!

My lovely wife has been away for the past 6 days. A month ago, when we had some extra money, I purchased her a round trip ticket to Rhode Island - where her family is.
She hasn't been able to ever go back and visit family without having kids in toe, and I honestly felt she deserved the chance to get away for a bit.

The other reason she was going to be away was to finish getting her name changed on her drivers license. We finally have the same name, throughout. For a while now she has been wanting to get her identity issues fixed. So during her trip east she was able to take care of it.

During this past week, I have missed her terribly. Its been hectic, trying to remember to pick things up from the store, check to make sure everyone has their meds, and at the same time making sure I have my school stuff in order. Some things have slacked, I admit. However, we've done good. I didn't have us eating out every night. In fact, we really didn't eat out much at all.

No one was hurt, no doctor visits, and I haven't wanted to kill anyone. Now I will admit, I haven't been able to focus much attention on my class stuff, but I can catch up.

Being apart has given me a moment of pause to appreciate having a two parent home for our kids. It has also reminded me how much I love that woman! I am looking forward to everything about her.

Thanks for everything you do to keep the house running! I love you!!!!