Deal Fell Through

My ex-husband didn't send the $1500 in lieu of child support like he said he was going to. No real surprise there. That's OK. He'll end up paying more money in regular child support until the adoption is final anyway. Too bad for him. Not. I needed the money now. Houses taxes are due and we haven't sold our other house yet, so we get to pay two. Yipeeee!

They pre-cancelled school for tomorrow already because of the next "Arctic Event" that is coming in from the North. (Yes, I have been watching the weather.) It's -17 degrees right now and the furnace just wants to keep running. So, I stayed up late and made a new pendant and listed it. I even tried to give it a clever name. It's called,"When Life Gives You Lemons," and then the first line of the description is, "Make Lemonade." I was bored of my factual descriptions, so I thought maybe a witty title would catch someone's attention. It's a Lemon Jade Pendant with a Peridot, Mother-of-Pearl, and another little Lemon Jade round dangle hanging from the front. It's fresh and cute. I got a new box of supplies today and luckily, my husband went to check on the old house because the box got delivered there. I guess I'd better change that. I think I'll sleep in tomorrow. Because I can.

Deal with the Devil

I made a deal with the Devil. In two days, my ex-husband was supposed to start paying child support for my six-year-old daughter for the first time ever. For some reason, he really, really didn't want to. He moved to Texas about a year ago (Yay!), got married, bought a house, and actually got a job. My theory is that he lied on his mortgage application. To get out of paying child support, he agreed to give up his legal rights to her, so my current husband could adopt her. Why he would give up his rights to such a beautiful girl, I don't know. What he didn't realize was that the adoption process takes about six months and he would have to pay child support for that six months. Well, he got all mad and said if he had to pay child support, then he wasn't going to give up his rights. "Fine, then pay the child support," I said. Well, then he said he wasn't going to pay AND give up his rights. I explained that I had to pay money for him to give up his rights and to make this adoption go through. I had to pay $150 just to file the form. Then, there's another $100 for the investigation fee to see if my husband is fit to be a dad or if he's a criminal. There are plenty of other fees and then court costs when we get to the actual adoption. I also told him I was paying three mortgages right now. He said that wasn't his fault. I said that he was right, it wasn't, but it was a fact. So, finally I told him that I would tell the Friend of the Court that I didn't want child support (which would have been about $1800 for the six months) if he sent me a check for $1500. It was a deal with a Devil. But there still are some stipulations. He still has to pay me her medical bills that he owes me and some of the other money he owes me from before. Maybe I will be able to buy some beads. Or maybe I will have to pay that darn mortgage.

Above Zero

The sun is out and it is finally above zero. The whole "Artic Event" as the meteorologists were lovingly referring to it as, is finally over. It started out with a healthy 30inch dumping of snow which was great because school was cancelled and I got a lot done. They do call our area "Big Snow Country" for a reason. We get some dandy lake effect snow and a good amount of regular snow. I listed a bunch of stuff on Etsy and did a Squidoo promotional Lens to promote my website and my jewelry. http://www.squidoo.com/moonmysticThe kids (three and six) and I put in some quality skiing time and then it got cold. And I mean cold. It was -17 degrees, but -40 with the wind chill factor. Yipeee! I didn't have hot water one day, but my husband was able to thaw the pipe with the hair dryer. Today, it is 15 degrees and I'm excited. We will try skiing again today. We'll see if my three-year-old will fall on his face going up the tow-rope or not. I'm betting, yes. Tonight, I will try to take some better pics of some necklaces and list a few things. Sigh. I need to get better at taking close-up pics.

Crossing Four States

My husband bought a lawnmower off of Ebay- he got quite a deal (or so he says.) So, we had to drive all the way from Upper Michigan, through Wisconsin, through Illinois to Muenster, Indiana. We pull up to load it and the guy says they have to take down the fence to load it. What? Bang, bang, pound, pound. Fence down. They start loading it it and it is this rusty piece of crap. I should have known.
We ran into a snow and freezing rain storm in Wisconsin on the way back. Everyone was driving 35MPH and slamming on their brakes every 45 seconds. We tried to stay at a motel, but there was a LeAnn Rimes concert the following night, so there was no vacancy. We finally found a motel where the desk clerk's I.Q. was equilivilent to his number of teeth, but it was a bed. The good news is I was able to make several nice Turquoise Chinese-knotted necklaces while we were driving and many, many different colors and lengths of leather and nylon cords for my necklaces. Those are good in the car tasks because they are so boring. But, I ran out of super glue, so we had to go to Menards and get some more and then my husband had to buy some rolling dollies. We actully stopped at a bead store on the way home, but I couldn't even get my myself to buy anything because it was so over-priced.

Buried in Beads

My husband promised me a bead room in our new house and he put up Gorilla shelves down in the basement for me, but then he started putting his stuff on them. Now, my beads are piling up on the kitchen table which is what we were trying to avoid and he is getting mad. I'm supposed to be getting a nice cabinet for the bedroom, but I don't have it yet, so the pile is growing and I don't have anywhere to put it. Help! Soon there will be an avalanche. Or a divorce.