What A Great Day It Was!!

Yesterday, was one of the best days I have had in a very long time! I got up early and was doing some work on the computer. I stumbled into my finances finally and realized that there was more money added to the account than usual from work. I ask the money people at work what is up with that, and was handed a note saying that some office people received an increased. Yeah! I was one of those people. Let me tell you I have been contemplating looking else where, it has been a struggle for me to stay here, I have not seen an increase since the towers came down on 9/11. The only reason I have stayed is because I have the flexibility to leave and take and pick up the kids for school and stuff like that. I have been working on stainglass projects to sell to make more money. So the increase is an answered prayer. The other great thing that happened was the youngest sprout had an appointment with the ear doctor to follow up on the infection she had a few weeks ago and to discuss removing the tubes that have been in there for 2 1/2 years. She has been ready to have them taken out. When she went into the room she told the nurse that she was getting them taken out today. Her ears were fine, so we discussed the options. 1. He try to pull them out there in the office. 2. We travel 40 miles to the big city and have it done at the hospital where he puts her out to pull them out. I was leaning for #1. We discuss it with the child who thinks she is ready. I had prepped her on the pain issue of it, of which the doctor said that she may not liked him ever again if he did it in the office. He was pretty sure he could grab the one but was not sure on the other. We all decided to try to have it done. He did what he thought was the hard one first, she gave a slight flinch, but no problems. She turned to the other side, nurse holding head of course, and he realizes that it is wax that he thought was going to be the easy part to grab, but he got ahold of it and out it came, with a bigger flinch from the 4yr. She really did not like the last one, I got the look of that hurt, but it is over, but it still hurt. She walked over to me and crawled on to my lap and snuggled right in. She did produce one tear, but survived it very well. She was all smiles when we left, they took her picture, and she got to keep the tubes. I was glad that he could do it in the office, a lot cheaper for me than the hospital visit would have been.

Another Week Gone By...

Another week has gone by, and a quarter of the year has almost passed us as well. Time sure does fly. I am glad to have the girls this weekend. I got a lot accomplished the last two weekends without them, but it is time to get back on schedule. Lots of things planned for this weekend and lots of traveling, but hopefully by Sunday night everyone will have had fun.

The girls have spring fever already, they are ready to be able to play outside all the time. They already have walks and bike rides planned. Of course it has been lightly snowing today. I am not really a spring person, but am looking forward to being outside with them as well.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

A Tough Decision!

In trying to square away the summer schedule between the girls father and myself, via email. I have decided to let his wife take care of the girls while he is at work. He works a rotating 24 hr shift for his main job. He owns his own business as well, when he feels like working that it is all his choice to do so there. I do not have a problem with her watching the girls, it is just a personal issue I have with her, and trying to get over it, is not something that is going to happen overnight right now. She being one of the reasons that I filed for a divorce, and that is all I am going to say! The decision was a tough one for me, but I have been contemplating it for awhile and praying about it as well, and I am confident it is the right decision right now. I will still get to see the girls one day a week and everyother weekend, and I will call them as well. I can even stop by daycare to see them at lunch if things are not going well with them. They are not to keen on the idea of not seeing mom all the time, but we have slowly been working on that. They still have their doubts but they will be fine, I think. Time will tell. There are still some more details that need to be finalized, but that I think is ready to go.

Stainglass Sunflower Lamp

This was my weekend creation! The glass part of the lamp is 8.5" x 11". This was my gift to the youth pastor and his wife for pastor appreciation month back in October. They finally decided on what they wanted.

I had the girls for the most part of the last three weeks, with their dad only having them one night each week, we switched weekends in there so that I could take the girls to a church function and he could have them on his birthday this past weekend. As much as I hate being without them, I was ready for a break. All my buttons had been broken by the time Thursday rolled around. I had decided last weekend that I was going to head to Hobby Lobby this past weekend to get some glass. One because they had it on sale at half off, can't pass that up, and two because I need to start to make more projects to sell for a little extra money in my pocket. Of course you have to spend money to make money.

I picked up the glass for this project, and some other colors that I did not have. I really did not intend to make this project this weekend, but I was on a roll so I jumped in. It was 10:30pm when I started it, and 5:00 am when I finished it. I took a few breaks in there, to change the laundry and the sermon on the computer. I was converting the church sermons so that they could be put online as well. Multitasking at it finest....lol. Those breaks however were not more than 10 minutes at a time, but I am glad I got it done. I grabbed a couple hours of sleep then was out the door by 8:30am Sunday morning for church with gift in hand.

They loved it!! I showed the other 2 pastors wives the project as well. One of them rode with me to look at glass and she helped me pick out the colors for this one. They were all amazed that it was done. Keeps me busy, and I enjoy doing it!

What a crappy day!

I started out the day pretty well. Got up and around this morning, went and picked up the sprout from daycare and dropped her off at school. She did not seem in a very cheery mood, I brushed it off as being with her dad last night and having to be up earlier than usual this morning. Off to work I go. The morning goes by quickly and I actually get a lot accomplished. Off to pick up the sprout from school. I go through the bookbag to see what went on for the day because I will not see them until Monday morning. I discover that there is no new reading book in there, so we go chat with the teacher and get a book to review because apparently there has been some problems with a couple of words. I am ok with that, the sprout has issues. Her issues are her mood more than anything, and I suspect lack of sleep as well to contribute to that. Not a battle worth getting into right now. As, I drop her back off at daycare I chat with the youngest sprout, who has discovered me there and wants to know if I am picking them up today. I have to tell them no it is dads weekend. She throws a little tantrum but gets over it and we chat a bit longer. I ask if her ear drops got sent today, because she had a really bad ear infection. The daycare lady says no she did not get them today. Now I have to decide to choose this battle or not. A dad with a somewhat medical background as part of his full time job, you would think medicine would be of an importance. I do not think I should have to explain to him how often to give the medicine when it is on the medicine itself. So I call his work to chat with him, my luck he is out for a bit. I decide to send an email to him, knowing that it will not get answered either, I am still waiting on answers I sent him days ago. He finally calls me and we talk about the medicine, I pretty much got the standard line of BS for his lack of being a father in my opinion, and we go our separate ways. Of course he had to go into lots of details on stuff I do not care about as opposed to what I really wanted to know. Like did you know she needed it three times a day. Were you running late again this morning because you had the girls and they were not cooperating with you like normal again, so that made you forget the medicine. No I get what his wife is going to do with the girls tonight and their plans for the weekend, which is nothing to write home about, but apparently I am suppose to be impressed by it. That didn't happen. The more the weekend gets here the more I look forward to it. Dealing with his BS all the time just gets draining. I am getting better at just letting it go, but it still is draining to do that.

Those Darn Teachers!!!

My 6yr is learning to read in Kindergarten and she loves it when she is in a good mood. Once in awhile she gets her pants in a bunch and has lots of excuses as to why she cannot read the assignment. I picked her up from school and asked her if she got a new book today. When she reads a book completely and correctly she gets to move on to a new book, and each book focus on a new word. Well her response was "NO, I didn't practice enough" which means she missed a word. So, we were discussing it and the importance of reading and everything. I get this response "All the teacher does is fill my head with words" Now, I am at a lost for words for that response.

Let the games begin!!!

My sprouts are 4yr and 6yr. The 4yr is the type that everything seems to come natural to her, and her mind is going a mile a minute, there is nothing that escapes her thought process. Example: they were playing and dressing up some what like princesses queens, some kind or royalty, when the 4yr comes from the other room with scissors in one hand, held wrong but still functional to her, and tissue in the other hand, that had been attacked by the scissors. She climbs up into my lap and says, "We can cut the tissue and make a crown!" I said, "Yes, we can, but we are not going to" then I get, "We can use tape and staples, too." She did not miss a beat with that one and off she went. Life is never boring with her around, and there is always this smile from her, like how can you resist this smile.

Anyways, they had a pine wood race at church yesterday for their Wednesday night church group. My dad cut out the cars for them, and assembled them. The girls colored them with markers and I added the weight to them to finish them off. So we all head to the church gym yesterday afternoon. My parents and younger sister went because I had to leave before it was going to be over. I was there long enough to see the youngest age group race. She took first place out of seven cars in her age group. There were 31 cars all together. They did not hand out awards in the different age groups, just overall. The 4yr was kind of excited she really did not know what happen. To back up a minute we had to have the, "We are here to have fun" chat in the car on the way to church. Which was not going well, the 6yr had set in her mind that she was going to win and she was getting a trophy. Now, the 6yr category is racing and I saw her first heat, her car won. Life is good so far I have to leave now. On my way I am thinking life is not going to be good if the 4yr gets trophies and the 6yr does not get one. The 4yr is going to go, "I got a trophy" to her sister, and that will set a fuse or two off. Well, when I finally catch up with them when it is all over, the 6yr got 2nd place in her age division. There were 3 divisions, and the top three in each division went against each other for the top 9 places. Here is where things got harry. The 4yr came in 3rd overall, we get a big trophy for that, the 6yr came in 5th and gets a ribbon. All participants got a participation trophy. Yes, tears were shed, and about 5 more years of that competition to go through. Someday, the only here to have fun will set in I hope. In the end they did have fun, and I am glad their cars did well.

Feeling better finally

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I finally ate solid food again last night. I have not been able to eat that much up til then. I finally woke up this morning without a tension like headache which is a good sign. I am on my last day of meds today which is an even better sign. I have to take a snack with one of the meds of life is ugly for awhile, and a few crackers does not cut it. A snack is a peanut butter sandwhich or a half of sleeve of crackers. Great choices when you do not feel like eating at all. I do not have that big of a cough as lots of others do which is good, and I do not think the kids got what I had which is even better. So here is hoping for a good weekend with the kids. They have a church activity on sunday night with their wed. night kids program, and are looking forward to it. Hope everyone gets well, quickly, my doctor told me that what I had, makes you feel like you have the worse cold you ever have had in your life. It is not bad if it has been caught in the first 48hours. I caught mine in the first 24 hrs, and the next 24 hours weren't that special either. But, life is getting back to normal now, finally.

Bellybutton Issue!

Last Saturday, I had the sprouts for my weekend, and they were eating breakfast when I went to the bedroom to get dressed. All of the sudden there is a knock on the door and the oldest is telling me that her sister has pulled her bellybutton out. Now, I am a little mad only because I have things I need to get done today and they have been stalling all morning long. I ask is she bleeding, because I can hear no crying going on at this point, "No". Is your breakfast gone? "NO" Go eat your breakfast and I will deal with it in a few minutes, "But Mom!" No, go eat your breakfast. Finally, I go out to the kitchen and there is the 4yr with this evil grin on her face smiling at me and saying "Good Morning, Mom". You have to understand, my mom says that the 4yr came into this world with her halo slightly tilted about 1 degree. She does have the beat of her own drum. So, I ask her, "Did you pull your bellybutton out?" She proudly displays her belly to me and says "YEEES". Sure enough it is sticking out, and now she wants me to put it back in for her. I asked why she did it? "Because it was bothering me!" I have no response to that. She went a couple of days with it out, and I am not sure if it went back in by itself or her dad helped it after I told him not to bother with it, not an argument I am going to get in with him. So, if your belly button is full of lint and bothering you, try an outy bellybutton for awhile.

Attention Princesses!!!

This past weekend when I was feeling just fine, my mom and I took the sprouts to get new spring boots for them. You know the kind you can wear in the mud and hose off afterwards. Since it has been such a "great winter" NOT, they like to play outside if they can whether the ground is soft or not. So, after we try on our fashionable boots and walk up and down the entire length of the shoe isle to make sure these are the ones we really want, we head to other parts of the store to add to our bill. My outspoken 4yr has by now apparently eaten something that has given her extra air in her system. Thanks to the genes from her father she has no problem releasing the that air ANYWHERE, and announcing she has done so, as well. She while walking through the store, I hear out of the 4yr "MOM, DO PRINCESSES TOOT?" After trying not to laugh in front of her, I calmly say, probably if she has eaten what ever you have, she probably does. Now, I am in a debate with my 4yr and losing over whether princesses toot. Any princesses out there they can clear things up, please feel free to respond back. Reasoning with a 4yr is not easy when trying not to laugh at their responses at the same time.

The Crud Bug!

Well, it looks like most everyone has been getting over the nice little bug that has been going around, me included. This is the first I have felt like being out of bed in a few days. Mine came on all of the sudden Sunday night. I went to the doctor Monday morning, use to be I would wait it out, but with being a single mom with two kids now, I do not wait it out anymore, and it sounds like that was a good idea, because my doctor said that if it is caught in the first 48 hours it is not as bad. He did say that it would feel like the worse cold you have ever had in your live. True so far. My body feels like I have been taken outback to the woodshed and had the crap beat out of me. The doctors office said does it feel like you have been hit and left for roadkill? That too. So far the girls do no have it, which is good. I had to cancel my counseling appointment on Monday, which I was looking forward to but good thing I bailed on it, things were not coming up roses by the time the appointment got here, if you know what I mean. I called my mom to she if she could come over and help me with the girls that evening, which she did, it is a half hour drive for her. I was feeling better after she got here. I actually took in substance and kept it in that night so life was getting better. Tylenol is my friend right now for my body aches, not liking the snack I have to take before the medicine can be taken. To time consuming for me, and my throat does not like it either. I am slowly getting away from the clear liquid diet that seems to be working with this crud. My two favorite diets, the sickness diet and the divorce diet, both work well, but I do not recommend either one of them. Well off to work, I have a couple of post to put up maybe later today or tonight. A preview, "Do Princesses Toot" inquiring 4yr wants to know that, and "Mom, Sissy pulled her bellybutton out" Yep, the 4yr has an outty now, who would have guessed it.

All is quiet on the Home Front!

I finally have time to post today! The last week has just been a whirlwind, seems like. Last week at work, an email announces the visit of a customer for this week. Great, now I have to clean my office, which looks like a tornando has been through it, since I am a one woman show. But not to panic I can get it done by the time they get here. So, friday night I work over a bit and get a little bit done.

The weekend was filled with much needed catch up at home and at my parents house, but first I had to bowl in the local city tournament on saturday morning, so that cut into most of my day. I bowled terribly and after 6 games in a row, my hand and middle finger tip were ready to fall off. I called the girls saturday night, of course they were at his mom house for the weekend, because their dad had to go spend time with his step-son and his wife. So I had to talk to the former mother-in-law which is more annoying now than it was before. My 6yr now realizes that dad does not take them everywhere that he goes, but mom does take them everywhere she goes. I just kind of blew that off, but reality is she is right.

I went to church sunday morning, was a very good service, another 2x4 moment from god. He always knows when to send a message to you, and at just the right time. I cleaned my parents house after church, my mom cannot do it anymore, she was in a car accident when I was like 1 or 2 and has only a partial knew cap so she cannot bend down to do alot of things, and she shattered her elbow a couple of years ago, so she really cannot push the vacuum very easily, so I clean for her, it goes towards paying off a loan I have with them anyways. After cleaning I head back home to bowl 3 more games in league. That was interesting since my finger was stil very tender from the 6 game the day before. Putting my finger in my ball was extremely painfull let alone bring it back and release it. I fought through the three games and crashed for the rest of the evening. I never did get my average on any of the 9 games I threw over the weekend. The former spouse calls me at 9:30pm Sunday night to ask me about the youngest ear still draining. Well, I am a little irritated now, one of the time of night to ask me about it, and 2 from the sounds of it, it was like that all weekend and I am just now finding out because he was gone all weekend and his mom did not call him, because they all have communication issues. We had a nice conversation, I was not mean or anything, I told him it was like that when she went to the doctor the weeke before, and what I did to clean it out and that it was not draining by the time they had to go to his house. Well he had some of the stuff, but no cotton balls, and apparently had no idea how to substitute for them. Being in the medical field that he is, I would have thought a gauge pad would work, but I was not going to go there. He was ok with the conversation, and we even talked about some up coming date switching for the girls.

I stopped by his work monday morning on my way to work to talk to him more about the sprouts ear. Again it was a pleasant encounter. I called him later because I found out that the girls did not have either their gloves or hats with them, one had one part and the other had the other part. Of course I get the we were running late this morning and did not have time to get everything it is probably at the house, will get it to you tomorrow when he has them for his week night. I was ok with that, not putting up an argument over it, it is not worth it anymore.

Tuesday, after going back and forth from work and school duty to drop off and pick up from kindergarten, I rush around to finish up stuff, because hey I still have to clean my office for tomorrows visit. At 3:30pm I ask the VP what time the visitors will be here and he says around 10:30 or so. Great plenty of time for me to also come in early and finish up what I do not get done in the last hour and a half. He asks me if the lab which is just outside of my office is cleaned up. I look at him with the deer in the headlights look, like I can't believe he just asked me that because he knows that guy is never in there, the only time he is, is to make it more cluttered. I tell him, nope he has not been up there all day, the VP got right up from his chair and went to the guys boss, and within 5 minutes there were 5 people in the lab only one was a girl. I kid you not it took all 5, 1 1/2 hours to clean that room. I started in on my office was in no big hurry, just worked my way around to the other side. After work I had to bowl again for another league, interesting night with my finger, but alot better. My finger is doing better now as well, and I do not have to bowl until Tuesday again so I should be good to go now.

Wed. morning I came into work and finished cleaning my office, which I am glad it was driving me crazy, now I feel like a civilized worker. Maybe I will actually get work done now. People come in and wonder were the engineering department went the office is so clean. All that work and they did not even tour the lab area. After work I took the girls to church, while they are at the kids program I put in the music for sundays service into the computer. I happen to get done in time this week to go done and see the awards handed out for this week, and my oldest got the most points for the month for her age group. She was so excited, and had a big smile on her face. Made my week.

Yesterday was just as hectic, I was in and out of work all day, doing school duty, then the girls had appointments at 1pm then back to work, after work we headed to my grandmas because I had a divorce class to go to, and my moms plans changed at the last minute so I am scrambling to get the girls taken care of. Finally the weekend is here and I have nothing planned. What will I do?

A futile attempt at a poem!!

It has been awhile since I posted. After making it through the day yesterday and being bored today at work. Actually I have lots to do, I just do not feel like doing it anymore. Burnout has set it. Being swamped all the time with no help for the little tasks, my office is a paper diaster and a half and I hate it. I am normally an organized person, and with no time to keep organized here is just driving me nuts. I no longer have a desire to do my job anymore. I dredge through the day and get what needs to be done and that is it. I have no more to give. Unfortunately I hate the way the office is now, so I still work to get extra stuff done, but just seems stuff comes in faster than goes out. Anyways, in my non-working mood I wrote down some random thought and kind of turned it into something...lol.

I have not titled it. Maybe you can suggest a title. A side not check out the phrase of the first letter of each line. That was not a coincendance.

Giving all you have to give

Opening up your heart, only to be

Disappointed. Realizing, it is over

Surrendering all

Looking towards the sky

Often wondering if you are heard

Verification received

Exult in his devotion to you

Can You Believe This!!

It has been awhile since I have posted. I have somewhat cooled off from the email wars I had had with my former spouse's spouse. Life has been moving along, I hope it picks up the pace soon though. I have been attending a weekly divorce class, that has been very good so far. I have my taxes done. Now I can start planning ahead for this year.

After having a few choice emails go out to the significant other of my former spouse a few weeks ago, I decided today to send her an email. My motives were nice and simple. I choose to send her the email instead of my former spouse, because one I knew it would get read today in a timely manner, and two it was kind of time sensitive anyways. I sent her the bible versus the kids need to say tomorrow night at their church program. The kids have swim lessons tonight and he is taking them because it is his week night to have the kids. The kids get bored waiting for the other to get done with their lessons, so I thought this could be something they could do while waiting. I asked the kids today if they would mind me doing that, and they didn't mind. I got a nice email back from her saying "thanks" and that was a good idea for the kids....duh. Sorry still have a little anger and bitterness left in me....but it is getting better. Small steps are better than not steps I guess.

A 2 x 4 up side the head moment from God!! The verse for one of the kids, the youngest who is 4yr, is 1 John 3:11 ....we should love one another. Think there is a message there for me?

We will just have to wait and see how things go later on. Right now I still have no desire to talk to him or her for that matter if at all possible, but nothing is ever for certain in this world.

Meaningless Thoughts!!!

A quick funny story, my 4yr, myself and my parents were all in the office and my dad was playing around with the 4yr who was in a mood, and apparently had enough fun. She turns to my mom and says "Grandma your husband is being mean to me!!" I thought I was going to fall off the chair laughing, because it was no longer "Papa" he was grandmas husband.

I am trying a different aspect of things, why not, it is a new year, try new things. So, I am trying to let go more. Not an easy thing to do, but practice makes perfect I guess. Even though I try not to personally communicate with the former spouse, I rather email or page him if at all possible, letting the little things go is getting easier. I have realized most of the battles are not worth my time to fight them. Nothing is going to be accomplished after the dust settles anyways.

Our sermon on Sunday at church was interesting, instead of dwelling on the negative and what all is bothering you all the time, try stopping and thinking about what you have to be thankful for. When you stop and think about it, things to be thankful for usually out way the list that is bothering you.

The bright spot in all my days is seeing the great big smiles on the kids faces, when they have just stated their case to some kind of negotiation for something. Hard to beat a big smile!!

Wish I Knew What the Lesson Is?

Why is it that when you think things are just beginning to look up and going your way, something happens and now you have to take what feels like 100 steps backwards. With my reserve finances just about depleted, I have been scrapping by for sometime now. I have stopped everything I can possibly stop and drop. I thought I had a good chance at making my big February payments coming up with no help (House and Car), but nope my car has to die on me at lunch time today. It needs a fuel pump, which I have no choice but to have it done. The kids need to get to school I need to get to work, no public transportation in this town. So on Monday that will get fixed and hopefully life will be back to normal with me trying to figure out how to make up that money and try to get ahead again.

I am going to try to sell my stain glass pieces but I have to get them made which is time consuming at that.

Life would not be so entertaining if we knew the lessons ahead of time I guess.

An Interesting Lunch!?!

After spending the first part of my lunch taxiing one of the kids around after school, I went home and for the rest of lunch. As I was getting ready to leave a delivery truck pulls up and blocks my driveway. At first I think it is going to back up for the neighbor because he runs a construction business from his house. Then I discover that it is my address he is suppose to be at. As he is walking up my drive way I yell out the front door at him to see if he is here for my former spouses business. (Mind you my former spouse has his own side business and has not been at this address for over a year and a half.) He says yes, he is suppose to pick something up at this address, because that is the address on his printed out paperwork. I just simply inform him that the business has not been here for quite sometime, you will have to call him to get directions to where you need to be. He said that is ok, my former spouse can take care of it with the guys at the shop. Good enough for me.

Maybe I should have called him and told him what happen, but I look at it this way, if it was for something else that had the wrong address, I would not call either. Granted this may have been a slightly different situation, and it probably was an error with the delivery company, because he was picking up something that the company delivered sometime, just not to my house.

A Double Standard???

Why is it ok for the kids dad to forget something, but if I forgot the same thing I would be "branded" a bad mom by his standards. Trying to be nice in the whole situation is very tough. I am glad God has patience with me, that is for sure.

The kids spent Sunday night with their dad so he dropped them off at school. I picked them up from school and neither one had a hat on. I asked each of them were their hat was, because they go to 2 different schools right now, and they both said that dad has them, he did not give them to us. Fine I let it slide, it was a rather nice day even though the youngest is fighting a runny nose and cough right now. I did not pursue it any further. They were going back to their dads that night anyways. So, the next morning I have to pick them up at day care and drop them off at school because he was scheduled to work that day. When I pick them up, again no hats or gloves that they had with them also, and it is now snowing, blowing, and cold out. Both say that they did not give the hats to them. Granted the kids should know to put a hat on, but what kid likes a hat. Now after I drop them off at school I leave a message for the former spouse asking him where the kids hats are because I cannot seem to find them. He eventually leaves me a message saying that his wife brought the kids into town today, and she forget to get the hats they were sitting in a basket by the door. (Side note, he complains to me about the miles he has to drive to make an extra trip into town if I ask him to watch the kids for me, he works about 5 blocks from daycare, and they both drove into town that morning, she does not work in town she works in the other direction) He has got ahold of his wife and IF she comes into town today she will drop the hats off at daycare, or if he remembers he will bring them in tomorrow, otherwise I will get them back after they spend Thursday night at his house.

I realize most kids have more than one hat, mine do not normally have more than one hat around, I usually recycle them when they get a new one. Luckily I had the hats ready to go but had not taken them yet, so I was able to come up with hats for them for these 2 days. Now he is going to have 2 sets of hats to take care of. What do you think the odds are going to be that I get both back. If I did not send the kids properly dressed they would note it, so they can show that I do not take care of them, or I would have been expected to meet him somewhere to get him the hats. But, to him it was like oh well, it happens.

Good thing the kids have not been going outside for recess for some reason, because if they do not have hats and gloves they can not go out.

I will have to admit, that I have not pursued the issue hardly at all. I have just let it go and moved on, as hard as that has been to do.

Stainglass Fan Lamp

Here is a couple of pictures of a fan lamp that I made this weekend. I do not normally use that kind of base for them, I like the oak ones. Do to a time constraint this is all I had to work with, my bases that were on order arrived today. My dad and I are going to make our own bases, that will cut down on the costs, when I start selling them. The base used here is a die cast antique brass looking one. It is ok, but I do not have a lot of room to work with if the glass does not fit into it.

I like this pattern I have done it a couple of different times. This is the second time I have done the ribbons with so many different colors. I have also done it with just two different colors as well. Both looked good.

Is it just me?!!

It has been an interesting weekend to say the least. I had the kids Friday night and Saturday morning because he was not getting back into town unto late Friday night. He and his wife went to Vegas....He doesn't think I know where he went...I have a 6yr I know where he went. Anyways I asked him when he was going to pick them up on Saturday when he asked me if I could watch them for him. He said "OH, 10am." That was fine with me, of course I am always being accused of not letting him see the kids more, but that is a different story right now. So after he shows up late on Saturday morning, of which I did not say anything about the time because that would be a waste of my time and I would have to listen to some bogus excuse anyways I opted not to bring it up, I gave him a few instructions/directions/information about the kids.

One was to give the youngest a certain kind of medicine to dry up her nose, she will stop coughing if you dry up her nose. He agreed that does the trick and has done that before....Fine. There are papers for him in one of the suit cases. The oldest has a small book in her backpack that she needs to read and turn in on Monday so she can get the next book and move on with her reading skills. This book is not long and will not take very long for her to read it to you. She does need to read it word for word in order to pass it and go on to the next book. "OK" he says.

So, I pick the girls up from school today, and the oldest still has her book with her. "Why didn't you get the next book today?" I ask. "Because I didn't get to practice this one!" she says. Now I am a little mad. I called and talked to the kids on Sunday afternoon and asked if she had read it and she said no, but at least it is in her mind now to do that. Apparently there was no time for him to sit with her and read about 6 pages that had about 4 words on each page. I just do not get it.

Everytime we get into a discussion, I usually end up with something from his wife telling me what a great dad he is and that they have family time and this and that. Of course I do not believe anything she says now, and have not believed much that he has said long before I divorced him. It was a little book how hard is it to sit down with your daughter and go over it. She just started these when he was in Vegas, you would think he would have a little interest in her. May be it is just me, maybe I am looking about this all wrong. I know I can not make him a great father, and that is probably part of the issue here.