Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Mikey & me


Many years ago, the company I worked for moved my department from Fort Gibson to Muskogee, and a guy was hired for several weeks to do some repairs and maintenance on our newly-acquired building.

The girls in the office all thought he was cute, but I was happily celibate at the time, following a string of failed relationships, and I wasn't looking for romance. No way, no how. Besides, he was impossibly young and would never be interested in somebody like me. He was 23, I was 31 and raising two kids.

My buddy Joycie couldn't resist a little matchmaking, though. The only other single girl in the office was a bad-tempered redhead, so she started nudging Mikey and me together. We had some friendly conversations and peeked around corners at each other, but neither of us really thought the other was that interested.

When his time working for us was almost through, a group good-bye lunch was arranged but, as the appointed hour arrived, everybody suddenly remembered something else they had to do.

So, twelve years ago today, Mikey and me went to lunch together -- alone. Afterward, when we climbed back into my Jeep to go back to work, he laid a big wet one on me and I was both shaken and stirred. So rattled that I got lost driving back to the office, on a route I'd driven dozens of times before.

Eight years ago today, I married the great love of my life and the best friend I've ever had.

Thank you, Joycie, wherever you are.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Crazy from the heat


Well, not just from the heat, but anyway...

Saw Chris and Sherri today for the first time in ages, and gave them the rundown on what-all's been going on around here. Then I ran out of conversation because this custody battle over Brittany has been all-consuming. It's taken over my whole life -- I haven't even read a newspaper in I don't know how long.

Went to court again Thursday, but the results of the hair follicle tests weren't in yet so we had to get another continuance. As soon as we left, Bob's results came in and he's clean.

The lady from SoonerStart came out Tuesday to test Brittany for developmental delays and didn't find any. She's finally crawling, a little bit, but she still has no teeth.

I took Brittany to baby playtime at the library on Wednesday and now she has a cold. I'm pretty sure that's where she got it. She's been snotting all day and puked a couple of times, too.

Went to my followup appointment with the orthopedist yesterday and was diagnosed with tendonitis. I'm supposed to take Advil twice a day and go to physical therapy, but I dunno how that's gonna fit that into my schedule.

(***sigh***)

I sure could use a vacation. The only escape I get is working on my egghead blog. I put a site meter on it, which tells me somebody's been reading it, so it doesn't feel like a total waste of time. Currently averaging 8 hits a day. Woo-hoo!

Dang, I'm running out of conversation again...

Monday, July 18, 2005

On a happier note


Me & Mikey hit the furniture stores yesterday to distract ourselves from our woes.

Found a very nice TV cabinet at the first one, a Bassett loveseat at the second one, and two nightstands and a dresser to match our crazy big bed at the third one.

Our home will be no longer be underfurnished, once the bedroom furniture gets delivered on Wednesday. Well, except for the dining room -- it's still empty except for my aquarium and our crazy big buffet, but I'm not in any hurry to fill it. I've grown used to having lots of open space since we bought this house, and I don't want to start feeling claustrophic in it.

The winner of the Great Coffee Table Search of 1997 turned out to be a fortuitous choice. It's a drop-leaf that makes an oval when the sides are flipped up, so there aren't any sharp corners for Brittany to crack her head on, now that she's finally starting to cruise around it a little bit.

Bookcases -- we still need bookcases. We have tons of books stacked in the office closet that need to get off the floor and onto shelves. Dammit! That's what we forgot to look for yesterday...

Sarah's lawyer


has got to be regretting that he ever took her on as a client. She's a disaster.

The judge recommended that Bob let Sarah have two supervised visits with Brittany before our next court date. The one on Saturday went all right, though it was a terrible hard day for us. Brittany came home on time without any hassle.

The second visit was yesterday, again from 12 to 7, but Sarah never showed up. Her mother tried calling but couldn't reach her, so she finally called her own attorney, who called our attorney, who called Bob at 2:30. Sarah finally called her mother at 6:40, saying that she'd been up all night talking to Jason (the guy she's not supposed to be hanging out with) on the phone, and then she slept all day.

She's also balking on taking the hair follicle test that the judge ordered.

Our attorney is supposed to call her attorney today to see if she's ready to give up yet, because she cannot possibly win and we are so ready to be done with it.

Oh, please, please, please...

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Wearing me thin


Went shopping for household supplies the other night and passed by the bathroom scales display. I stepped on one and weighed 129 pounds, which is pretty skinny for a chick as tall as me.

Oh, well -- that's the least of my worries right now.

Went to court Thursday. The judge decided he needed to hear witnesses and to see the results of hair follicle tests, so he rescheduled us for next week.

Sarah's been shacked up with this guy, who has pending felony charges hanging over his head. She already told Bob over the phone that her lawyer advised her not to be associating with him, but then she brought him with her to the courthouse anyway. Her lawyer made him leave the building before the judge could see him, but not before the rest of us got a good look at him.

(***shudder***)

So, anyway, Sarah and her parents came to an agreement yesterday and she signed over full guardianship of Kayla to them. Now we're supposed to drop Brittany off at Sarah's parents' house to visit with her and Kayla from 12 to 7 today, and we're flipping smooth out about it because none of us are allowed to stay and supervise. Had a long, agonizing phone conference with our attorney last night, and she assured us that they will seriously screw themselves if we don't get Brittany back on time.

I'm completely wrecked about it, but we've got the Steamatic people coming this afternoon to clean our carpets and ducts, so I have to keep moving. Still got lots of stuff to shift off the floor and out to the garage, but I'd rather just lay around and cry.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Sissy's pulling up!


I've been working on it with her and she's been needing less and less help, and she finally did it all by herself for the first time this morning.

Still not crawling, but maybe she'll skip that part and go straight to walking.

Still no teeth, either.

Brittany saw her mother last Sunday for the first time since the breakup, and she just looked at her like, "Who are you?" No big reaction at all. Of course, she hadn't seen her mother a whole lot for several months before the breakup, so her lack of enthusiasm wasn't terribly surprising.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Sleepyheads


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Arrrgh -- they're killing us


Sarah's parents have allowed four court dates to be postponed/canceled so far. Yesterday's was canceled because Sarah wanted to settle out of court (she does not want to face that judge again), giving her parents custody of Kayla for six months. Now Sarah refuses to sign the papers because she can't get unsupervised visitation without completing a residential rehab program.

I'm so tired of this already, and Bob's first court date for Brittany's custody isn't until next week. We hoped theirs would be done by then, but who the hell knows?

Mikey's on a stress spiral and I feel like I could sleep for days. Everything will work out all right, I'm sure, but the waiting sure is getting to us.

Oh, yeah -- almost forgot. This is Sarah's attorney. Now, ain't that something?

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Little Sis


Brittany will be ten months old next week, and the outfit she's wearing today is size 3 to 6 months.

We called her pediatrician a couple of weeks ago and learned that she hadn't been in for any checkups or immunizations since she was seven weeks old, so we made an appointment and took her. Her weight was fine -- in the 50th percentile -- but her height was only in the tenth percentile, meaning 90% of babies her age are taller than she is. She's still behind on her shots, but it will take a while to catch up.

She still has no teeth and isn't crawling or pulling up. She cannot get herself into a sitting position, or from a sitting position to her tummy -- her leg gets caught under her. She will stand at the coffee table and play if you put her there, but she doesn't make any effort to move around it. She does love her scootie, though, and has no trouble making it go where she wants to go, as long as it isn't onto carpet or grass. She's bright and alert, and an excellent mimic. She babbles and plays ball and waves bye-bye and gives such sweet kisses...

Anyway, I worry.

Julia, the attorney for Sarah's parents, specializes in guardianship cases involving kids under state supervision, and she's seen the aftereffects of drug abuse during pregnancy many, many times. I discussed my concerns with her Friday night and she told me that when Brittany's teeth finally do come in, they may be rotten because they were deprived of calcium in the womb, and that Brittany might be developmentally delayed as well, so she advised me to take her to SoonerStart to be evaluated as soon as possible.

I'm so angry. I'm angry at Sarah for endangering my granddaughter's life and I'm angry at my son for bringing this unwholesome woman and all her issues into our family.

I guess I've led a more sheltered life than I realized because I've been getting quite an education here lately, learning all kinds of things that I never dreamed I'd need to know.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Met with Sarah's folks


and their attorney for over four hours last night. Julia (the attorney) left with eleven pages of notes, an armload of evidence and the mystery box, which we have finally seen the contents of.

Julia also confirmed our suspicion that we need a specialist for Bob's custody case instead of the business lawyer and family friend that we hired because we were desperate to get temporary custody papers filed before Sarah could,

.......,pl'//'/l02n (Brittany says hi)

so we hired the specialist today.

Sarah's mom just called to tell me that Sarah's already been kicked out of the place she was staying because of her out-of-control behavior. Her new ex-roommate says she thought Sarah genuinely wanted to clean herself up so she could get her girls back, but now she's willing to testify against her.

Now, ain't that something?

Had an MRI yesterday


on my gimpy hip, and my orthopedist did a very poor job of preparing me for what to expect.

I assumed they would do an IV and inject stuff into that, but no. They injected it directly into my hip joint from the front side, which it was a bit more of an ordeal than I was expecting. I was already freaked out because of my chemical phobia and wasn't at all sure I wanted them shooting anything into me, but when I found out where they where going to shoot it, I nearly fled in terror.

I did, however, grin and bear it and waited until I got out of there before giving in to the weak tremblies.

Man, I hope I never have to do anything like that again.