Old and Busted

Well, that is the name Andrew has given this wonderful little hunk of junk that has stranded him on his way to school at least four times now.  The good news is that there is currently no worries that it will die on him while he is on his way to school.  The bad news is that this is because of the fact that it won't start.

In the short period of time he has had the car, we have already spent a couple hundred dollars in maintenance, and there are numerous other items that need to be fixed.  That is, would need to be fixed if the car actually ran.  Being as it does not run, there is not really any immediate need to fix anything.

Due to the amount it would cost to get "old and busted" back into working condition, we are looking to find "new hotness" for Andrew.  Sorry for the naming, but it is from a scene from MIB II that Andrew has taken to use as naming for his vehicles.  I'm not sure this "new hotness" would ever be the star of any showroom floor, but for the moment, it is the car that Andrew has his eye on and I think we are going to go take it for a test drive tonight.  If all goes well, maybe Andrew and the kids will have some reliable transportation to get them to and from school, hotness or not.

A New Year

Well, the new year has begun, and it is promising to bring with it lots of new things.

At the top of the list of new things has to be the fact that my youngest two little ones are now living with us.  Currently, this is only a temporary thing while my ex tries to work out some personal issues.  However, we are hoping to make them permanent residents of Omaha, and have already started the initial paperwork to make this happen.

The second item on the list is that it is once again time to move.  We had moved into a smaller place in order to save money.  However, now that we have a total of seven people living in a two bedroom apartment, I believe a move is definitely in order.  We already signed the lease and will be moving in just over a month.  I'm not exactly looking forward to the move itself, but I am definitely looking forward to having the extra space once we are there.

Along with the new house and having the kids, we will also be needing some new beds so everyone will have a place to sleep and call their own.  These are the ones that we have picked out for the boys, and of course there will be a matching dresser to go with them.

Other new items that 2012 will bring include the fact that Andrew will be leaving us for college.  Right now, he is wanting to go to the University of Iowa, so that will be a big adjustment for everyone as we will not get to see him too often with him being that far away.  Although I will be sad to see him go, I wish him well and hope that he does well and gains everything he needs while away and hope that once he is done that maybe he will decide to find employment a little closer to home.

The final item on the horizon for 2012 is a change in marital status.  Although technically I am pretty sure that I need to have a fiance before this can happen, I am looking forward to everything the new year has to offer, and I am hoping that this item will be among the list of changes.

First Run

Well, it is summertime once again and with the weather being as it has been, this past Saturday seemed like a good day to die. So... I dug out my running shoes and shorts and headed out to Wehrspann Lake.

I was feeling pretty good happy with myself for deciding to actually go for a run. I did a little light stretching and proceeded to hit the trail.

It didn't take long to realize that it had bee almost two years since the last time I ran. My knees and lungs were both very quick to point out that something wasn't right. However, due to the fact that I was feeling so good about myself for being there, I didn't listen to my body and decided to push through the pain.

This worked for awhile, and I was pleased that I seemed to be doing so well. As time went on, I found that I did need to do some walking and I was okay with this. I mean, after all, it had been two years and it is seven miles around the trail. Although I did end up doing a considerable amount of walking by the time I was done, I still felt pretty positive with my accomplishment.

Or at least I did.

The next day was not pleasent. I woke up with a pair of legs that did not want to do anything that I asked of them, and when they finally did do anything for me (like walking to the living room), they both did their best to make sure I was aware of their protest by sending me sharp pains each step of the way.

It is now Tuesday, and my legs are continuing to remind me that they are not happy with my decision to run again. Although I might not listen completely, I think I will definately keep their relentless remindings in mind the next time I think about heading out. After all, it is hard to feel good about yourself for getting excercise when your unable to move from the chair.

First Fish

Em seemed quite proud of catching her first fish. I however, had mixed emotions. I was very happy for her and tried to share in her excitement.

The problem was that I was not with her to enjoy this moment. It was supposed to be my weekend with the little ones. However, due to me starting a new job and not being able to make it to the exchange by 5:30 PM, my ex decided that she would not meet me at 7:30 for the exchange (that's too late for the kids) and just keep them. To add to this, Em will be turning five on Monday the 23rd, so we were planning to have a small birthday party for her.

I guess I am supposed to be happy in knowing that she had a good time and we can do something for her birthday next weekend. It's just not always easy.

Updates

Wow!!! It has been a lllooonnnggg time since my last post. So, let's see... what's new?
The divorce is final. I was given custody of Andrew and he will be coming to live in Omaha in another week or so (finishing out the school year first).

1. We moved to an apartment to be able to start saving some money. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but now that we will have Andrew joining us, this might get re-evaluated soon.


2. I have a new job. It is quite the commute, but nice to be working again and looking forward to once again having a little extra cash.


3. Lindsey completed all of the courswork for her MA program and is beginning her externship today.

I think those are all of the major updates. There are lots of other smaller things going on, and I will try to cover at least some of them in later posts. Until then... happy reading.

Parenting Time

Since the beginning of this blog, I have written about my weekends back in Des Moines with the kids. Well, I am happy to say that at least for the most part, that is now a thing of the past. The judge ordered yesterday that I am now able to take the kids with me to Omaha.

This really is a wonderful thing. The first thing Carter said when he got in my car on Friday was "Are we going to your house?" Carter and Em have both been wanting to see where I live and to meet Lindsey. I know Andrew is also happy with this change. I'm not sure that Johnathan really gives the whole thing much thought. He will be 18 in three more weeks, so he will no longer be governed by anything that has been ordered by the court anyway. I really think he is to the point where he can leave for college and be done with all of it. I know things have been hard for him, and all I can do is to try to be there for him in any way that he might need.

The reason I stated that my weekends in Des Moines were done "for the most part" is the fact that the kids still live there. This means there will be times when they will have activities and such in Des Moines on my weekends. On these occasions, my weekend will more than likely be spent in Des Moines with them. However, it will be from a hotel rather than the house. Again, I think the kids will enjoy this fact and we will make the best of the situation by being able to use the swimming pool, hot tub, and any other amenities that we choose to.

November?

Well, my atttorney finally got back to me with an actual date for my divorce trial. It's not set until November!

I couldn't believe it when I read that. I still don't know what to say about it. I had to ask him what the reasoning was for it being set that far out in the future. His answer was simply, that is what the current backlog is in the Iowa court system right now. Wow! It really doesn't sound like I am going to be able to do anything about it other than continue to push for a deal so we can get things done without the need to wait for the trial date.

On another note, it sounds like visitation might be changing soon anyway. In fact, I think I won't be needing to make the trips to Des Moines anymore. The kids will be coming to Omaha to see me instead. This is still being discussed and there is nothing finalized yet, but at least tentatively, it sounds like that is what is going to happen. There is one small caveat with this though. In the event Johanathan is busy on any given weekend and can't do the driving, I will need to go to Des Moines to pick them up (tentatively anyway... hopefully, we can get to an agreement where she brings them half way).

Anyway, just thought I would share the bad news / good news. Now get off the computer and go enjoy some of this wonderful weather outside!