Almost December!

Wow! This year has flown by. I guess it's true what they say about time going more quickly as you get older.

Thanksgiving was nice. I enjoyed spending time with my family.

I have three weeks of school left before Christmas break. They are going to be busy ones. I need to make sure my class is ready for our Christmas program.

I recently found out that my doctor is leaving her practice. I am really upset about this because she is wonderful and she is my friend. I tentatively have a new doctor, but I am already unimpressed. Her first available appointment isn't for two months AND she does not leave any appointments open for acute illnesses. So if you get sick, too bad, so sad. You have to go to the walk-in clinic, I guess. It's a little weird. I thought that part of being a doctor was treating your patients when they are ill.

I am the new Webelos leader for cub scouts. I guess when you have five boys, you are bound to be doing scouting things at some point. Jared turns ten on Tuesday and will be a Webelos scout. Hmmmm....this might be a good time to have a good doctor with all of the carving and knife handling.

This weekend I took the kids to see Twilight. I was afraid I would not like it since the book is always better, but we really enjoyed it. After reading all of the books, it seemed like a long time to have to wait until the movie came out. They are working on the second one now. I will have to find out when it will be released. Maybe by the time it comes out, I can afford another trip to the theater with the six kids.

Well, I guess it's time to stop and finish dinner. I really should have this done before 8:30 at night. I guess that's one of the hazards of being a night person.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The tenor of my last entry here was not very pleasant, so I thought today would be a good day to write one with a better attitude.

I love Thanksgiving! It's not just all of the eating (although, I do love that). It is because I get to spend time with a lot of my extended family. Today the kids and I are driving to Miami to see my family. I am so blessed to have the family I have. My parents are wonderful and supportive. They have always put the rest of their family first. For that matter, they put other people's needs in general before their own. It has always been that way. My brothers, sister, and their families are also wonderful. They are all kind, thoughtful, and fun to be around. I love to spend time with each of them. I often hear about families that do not get along with one another or do not speak to each other. I feel so bad for them because they sure are missing out on some of the greatest joys in life. Some people are not able to get along with their in-laws. Mine are all amazing. I love them as though they are my natural siblings. (Actually, I also always got along with Eric's family as well. I miss his parents and his sister & her family. I still love them, too.) I will also get to see my Aunt Kay, Uncle Kent, their son Kasey, and his daughter today as well. I am excited about that, too. I love them and do not get to see them enough. I really wish I could see all of my extended family. I have not seen some of them for years and I miss them. Perhaps I should arrange some kind of family reunion so we could all get together.

Aside from my family, I am also thankful that I am so rich. I realize that I make a small enough amount money that my kids qualify for free lunches at school, but I am still rich when compared with so many other people in the world. My kids get free lunch at school. They do not have to worry about going to bed with an empty stomach. There are children starving every day all over the world. They have a home. It is not what most people would consider large enough for a family of our size, but they sleep in a warm place each night and have shelter from the elements. We have clothing that fits and keeps us warm. We have clean water in our home. A huge amount of people in the world do not have that We live in America; the best country in the world...recession or no recession. Our government may not be perfect, but it is way better than circumstances in many, many other countries. I can't even imagine having to live in a third world country or a country in which being female is a bad thing. We have freedom here; many people do not. I also have amazing friends. I am not sure how I have been so blessed to have them in my life, but they are wonderful and I love them all.

I am going to try to keep all of this in mind as we go into the holiday season. That seems to be a bit of a stressful time for a lot of people so I am in good company with that one. I really am blessed and live a great life. I'm glad that Thanksgiving comes along this time of year. It helps me to take a little time to focus on how many great things I have going for me in my life. I hope everyone out there has a great Thanksgiving today and is able to remember the things they are thankful for.

The Angry, Ex-husband, Vent Post

This post is mainly so I can vent. It is not a happy, cheerful post so you may want to skip over this one if you are looking for warm fuzzies.

I have recently (within the last 6 months) discovered that my ex-husband opened up credit cards in my name, maxxed them out, and then quit making payments on them. I found out about one back in April or May when they called and wanted me to pay "my" bill. I honestly had no idea what they were talking about. After a couple of months, my ex FINALLY took responsibility and started making minimum payments on it. It is still in my name (I did close the account) and my credit rating is lower than I thought was humanly possible.

Well, a couple of months ago, I got a call from a collection agency wanting me to pay for my credit card. I assured them that the payments were being taken automatically out of my ex's checking account every month. That was when I found out that there was ANOTHER credit card that he did the same thing with. He is not taking care of this one and we (the collection agency and I) have been going back and forth about this for a while. I told them to look at the signatures and they will see that NONE of them are mine. They don't really care. He opened the accounts when we were married (without my knowledge) and put me as the primary card holder. That makes me responsible. They told me that the only way I could get out of it is to file fraud charges against him and that he will serve time in prison for a felony. I actually already knew that from dealing with the other credit card company that he defaulted on.

I am so mad I just want to hit him! He does not seem concerned at all. I guess he doesn't need to be concerned. After all, HE isn't the one who will be sued and have to pay the credit cards off, attorney's fees for the company, and court costs. I don't know why he can't just get a loan from the bank for the $6000 for the two cards, pay them off, and then pay the loan off. It seems like a loan would have a lower interest rate. I suggested this, but he does not want to do that either.

I do not want to file fraud charges against him. In spite of everything he has done to me and the kids, he is still their father. I don't want to send their dad to prison, but I certainly do not think it is right for me to have to pay off debts that I did not incur. As it is, I am supposed to receive over $1000 a month for child support and I signed an agreement stating that I would take only $400 so he would not be financially decimated. Then he does this! $400 does not really cover that much considering that it is supposed to support six children. He does not pay for insurance for them. He doesn't pay for any of their medical expenses (even though he is supposed to pay half). He does not help pay for dental or anything (two of them have braces). He will not chip in for presents from Santa (although he does buy them a gift from himself). That really irritates me because my little kids will ask why daddy buys them a present, but I don't. Maybe because I am scraping every penny I have to try and make sure that they get something from Santa. I can't say that, though. Ugh!!! It is so frustrating!

He is leaving for China for an extended stay (1-2 months) on November 10th. I'm not quite clear on how he can afford another trip to China this year when he is not able to meet his current financial obligations.

Okay, there is my vent. I really don't know that it did much good. I still do not have any answers. The few people I have talked to about this say I should file fraud charges. If it only affected him, I probably would. I just don't want to do that to the kids. They love their dad regardless and they would just be angry with me if he went to prison.