Ho Hum Blues

I have been laying low and dealing with the ho hum blues.

I met with my attorney Monday morning to work on our plan of defense in the child custody dispute. As we were finalizing our plan, there was a knock on the door, the morning mail had arrived with a letter regarding my case. The last appointed judge has withdrawn from our case.

My ex filed a motion for a new judge, a new judge was appointed and he withdrew from the case....and the other two have followed suit. Now we have to wait for a new panel of judges to be presented and we are going to go out of county. Do you see my attorney fees going up and up and up?

Not to mention, this whole case has been taking a toll on all of us and now we are in limbo for who knows how long.

Ok. Thats my report from never never land.

OK - it's time to play....

Sunday, Sept. 28

Straight up bet, no spread.

Cleveland Browns at 20

Cincinnati Bengals 12

AWB - Cincinnati Bengals

~JR~ Cincy

TZ - Cincy

Houston Texans at 27

Jacksonville Jaguars 30

AWB - Houston Texans

~JR~ Houston

TZ - Jacksonville

Denver Broncos at 19

Kansas City Chiefs 33

AWB - Denver Broncos

~JR~ KC

TZ - Denver

Atlanta Falcons at 9

Carolina Panthers 24

AWB - Carolina Panther

~JR~ Carolina

TZ - Carolina

Arizona Cardinals at 35

New York Jets 56

AWB - New York Jets

~JR~ Jets

TZ - Jets

San Francisco 49ers at 17

New Orleans Saints 31

AWB - New Orleans Saints

~JR~ New Orleans

TZ - Saints

Green Bay Packers at 21

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30

AWB - Green Bay Packers

~JR~ Packers

TZ - Green Bay

Minnesota Vikings at 17

Tennessee Titans 30

AWB - Tennessee Titans

~JR~ Vikings

TZ - Titans

San Diego Chargers at 28

Oakland Raiders 18

AWB - Oakland Raiders

~JR~ San Diego

TZ - Chargers

Buffalo Bills at 31

St. Louis Rams 14

AWB - St. Louis Rams

~JR~ St Louis

TZ - Buffalo

Washington Redskins at 26

Dallas Cowboys 24

AWB - Dallas Cowboys

~JR~ Dallas

TZ - Dallas

Philadelphia Eagles at 20

Chicago Bears 24

AWB - Chicago Bears

~JR~ Bears

TZ - Philly

Monday, Sept. 29

Baltimore Ravens at 20

Pittsburgh Steelers 23

AWB - Baltimore Ravens

~JR~ Ravens

TZ - Pittsburgh

Bye week: New York Giants, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts

AWB - 6

~JR~ 7

TZ - 9

So there you have it folks, Tim kicked our butts this week. Next week we will add in the point spreads.

Go Colts

Anytime you all get brave enough, I am willing to post the weekly football schedule and we can all bet for fun!

What a weekend......

This was my weekend to have the boys. We have been busy all weekend, working around the yard, house and on the vehicles. My oldest son waxed both of the cars and has been mowing and tinkering around and having a great time.

This morning we all went to church together. As we were all standing together in the pew and I looked down the row, me and my kids and my daughter's boyfriend - I smiled. I smiled with pride at how beautiful they all are. How much I love them. What they mean to me. What we have been through together and where we are now.

I offered up a word of thanks during the praise and worship time. Then the tears came again.....this time the fear of losing part of my family. The great sadness that someone is trying so hard to destroy what we have become. This is all just killing me.

I hate all of this. How it is all making me weak. How one person can be so selfish to only look at the bottom dollar and not see what he is doing to his kids.

Ok.

Ok. I am done with my pity party. It is what it is. I have been down this custody road before and I prevailed. I will do as the judge says this time around too.

I had to have my crying session. (Well several, but the worst was Tuesday.) This enables me to cleanse my spirit in a way and then step back and look at it all fresh and new.

I will find a way to make my voice heard and see that all facts are presented. As long as I am assured the judge has a clear picture I can be sure he will do what is best for my child, all of my children, and the family as a whole.

A special thank you to AWB for letting me have my crying spell and listening to my reasonable and unreasonable and at times incoherent thoughts, Katie for her compassion and understanding and Jennifer for a new and fresh point of view. (Katie, I will address the smile award over the weekend, but thank you and know that you and your family are in my prayers right now.)

I have been debating...

I have really been debating about doing this post. I have opted to go forth with it because I look at this blog as my personal journal and sometimes just blogging is very therapeutic for me.

Its no secret I am divorced and raising three kids. I face daily challenges in this life and sometimes it gets tough. Right now its really tough.

I filed for a modification in child support back in January. My ex has been dragging it ever since then. In the process his attorney quit on him. He told my attorney he couldn't reason with him and was tired of all of his milarky.

This summer there was an incident while my youngest son was spending a week with his dad in which poor judgment was exercised amongst my ex and his employees who were drinking and horsing around after work. My youngest son was literally given a swirly by a 24 yr old man. My son called me and told me as he was crying hysterically. I called my ex and asked what was going on and he was drunk and told me my son deserved it. I asked to come and get him and he said no. So I called the police for a welfare check on my son.

Less than a month following this incident my ex filed for custody of our oldest son. Keep in mind, my ex has not exercised visitation or any type of communication with our oldest daughter for almost 5 years. She can't get along with his girlfriend so he has disowned her. He does not acknowledge holidays or birthdays.

So see if you follow this. He doesn't see our daughter. My youngest is punished with swirlys and is told he deserves it. (My ex even told the officer our 9 yr old son deserved it.) And he wants custody of my oldest son. He was denied last time he tried and was told to take alcohol management classes. He did not do this.

It appears to be a cut and dried case in black and white that no judge in his right mind would grant this request.

But what if he does?

I have spent the last couple of weeks sick to my stomach every day with a black cloud hanging over my head and crying myself to sleep. If I could honestly say that it is a good living environment at my ex's I would not fight this.

My son is 16. He is at a crossroad between boy and man and is making life long decisions. There are too many negative factors in that home. I am not perfect either. My house is not spotless. I am terrible at homework with the kids. I don't cook every single night, we eat out more often than we should. But I am with my kids every night through the week and on the weekends when they are here. My daughter and I are very close.

I know my kids. I know what they like. I know what they dislike. I know where they go to school, what grade they are in and who their teachers are. I know their friends. I know their birthdays.

So if any of you have any extra prayers to spare, pray for the judge who will reign over our case that he will make the best decision for the three of our kids together as a whole and as the family they have become.

Are ya all ready to play yet?

Sunday, Sept. 14

Tennessee Titans at

Cincinnati Bengals

~JR~ Tennessee Titans

Buffalo Bills at

Jacksonville Jaguars

~JR~ Buffalo Bills

Oakland Raiders at

Kansas City Chiefs

~JR~ Chiefs

Indianapolis Colts at

Minnesota Vikings

~JR~ Colts

Chicago Bears at

Carolina Panthers

~JR~ Bears

Green Bay Packers at

Detroit Lions

~JR~ Green Bay

New York Giants at

St. Louis Rams

~JR~ Rams

New Orleans Saints at

Washington Redskins

~JR~ Saints

Atlanta Falcons at

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

~JR~ Atlanta

San Francisco 49ers at

Seattle Seahawks

~JR~ Seattle

New England Patriots at

New York Jets

~JR~ Patriots

San Diego Chargers at

Denver Broncos

~JR~ San Diego

Miami Dolphins at

Arizona Cardinals

~JR~ Arizona

Baltimore at

Houston Texans

~JR~ Baltimore

Pittsburgh Steelers at

Cleveland Browns

~JR~ Pittsburgh

Monday, Sept. 15

Philadelphia Eagles at

Dallas Cowboys

~JR~ Dallas

Just post your picks for the week in a comment and I will add it on to the post.

Sarah Palin ABC Interview With Charlie Gibson Part 2

Does anyone come to mind?

When I sold radio advertising, I took lots of classes, sat through lots of meetings and endured a lot of training. When I worked for a country music station, believe it or not, I learned the average country music listener is the most influential and possibly affluent demographic. Hard to believe, but true.



The best advice I was given by far was to target my commercial that I wrote to the "38 yr old soccer mom." I looked at the station manager as if he had just lost his mind when he told me that. Then we went into a lot of discussion and a lot of studies to find out why that particular person was the primo target person for advertising. Not just radio advertising, ALL advertising.



Here is a basic recap of the "buying power" and overall decision making process a "38 year old soccer mom" has.



1. She is a mom, a lot of marketing is targeted to kids, the kids want what they want when they want it, but mom decides if it is practical, reasonable or even in the budget.



2. She may be married and working a full time job, juggling the household budget and chores.



3. She may be single and working full time or even more and juggling the household budget and chores.



4. Either of the two scenarios listed above, she is making major spending decisions.



5. She might be a stay at home mom handling the budget of the household.



6. Her husband or someone else may handle the budget, but her voice is heard on how to handle it. ;)



7. Her kids may be older, high school or even college and she is guiding them and helping with their first job and how to handle money and trying to bestow words of wisdom on these kids.



8. She may have elderly parents or relatives that she is helping care for. Maybe shopping for them or helping them with healthcare decisions.

The point I am trying to make here is not necessarily financial, but more along the lines of do not discount a woman because she is a "soccer mom." I believe women as a whole look at life a lot differently than men, and we look at all sides and how everyone will be affected by whatever decision is made.

I do believe a woman is more likely to ask a question like "Just exactly what is the bottom line dollar amount of this project?" And a woman is not afraid to ask and not afraid to say no if it is out of the budget.

There are many other scenarios, but as you can see, the "38 year old soccer mom" is a very diverse individual. She is living life in full color one day at a time caring for her children, loved ones and herself. She is learning things one step at a time and figuring out how to best handle situations as they come at her. We all know life is messy and the "38 year old soccer mom" cleans it up.



Do any of these points remind you of anyone? Maybe 44 years old and perhaps a "hockey mom"? These are just some thoughts that have been rolling around in my head as of late and I thought I would share them with you.

9/11 Bud Commercial - AIRED ONLY ONCE

Never Forget

Daddy I miss you - Heaven 911

nuff said

The deal is done

I bit the bullet and bought a used car today. Much like the one pictured here. I drove to Mishawaka to see one that I had found online. Before I went I did all my research, I knew my Kelly Book Value, I had a carfax report in my hand and it was off a lot of a used car dealer that used to advertise with me when I worked for a local radio station.

When I got to the lot I looked it over, two dings in it, carfax indicated its never been wrecked and his been in the shop for regular maintenance on a regular basis. The dealer gave me the keys and said to check it out. So I went down the road and called my nephew. He went over everything with me over the phone - I checked everything under the hood as directed and then drove it with him on the phone telling me things to do. We found some bugs - but they are fixable bugs.

So I went back to the dealer, told him what I had found and asked for his best number. I said no, too high. He asked my number and he had to call the owner. The owner said to meet me in the middle, I said no, still too high. He didn't want to budge. I said no problem, I still had some other leads to follow up on. Started to leave and guess what.....???? He made the deal at my price. I got it for $200 less than my nephew said I should end up at. I am a happy girl.

Its very much like the car pictured above, a Lincoln LS 2002, it has tinted windows, a moon roof, charcoal leather interior and a 6 disc cd player. (All my priorities!) So I guess over the next few days we will see how good of a deal I made. I paid for it and drove it home then the kids and I went back and got my other car. Which is now my daughter's and hopefully life just got a bit easier.