I have been very excited for the last 6 weeks. Foolishly, I fear.

If you have read this blog for a while, you know that my soon-to-be ex filed for divorce in January 2007. Yes, over 15 months ago. He has drug this whole thing out with ridiculous claims and demanding his own way. In almost every instance, his demands aren’t granted and his ridiculous claims have backfired. We went to court on the 29th of February and I was told the ONLY thing we were waiting on to make this final was the psychologists report.

Since I was assured that by the 11th of April, our next court appearance, the report would be finished, I foolishly thought that this Friday would be the end. Our last family court appearance — We’d just have the 90 day waiting period and the divorce would be officially final. I was so excited. So excited I even emailed all my RI friends to meet me at a bar on Friday night to celebrate.

A very frustrating conversation with the not-yet ex this morning has me thinking I was a little too optimistic. I know we’re still going back and forth about summer visitation, but that will be resolved by the guardian ad litem and won’t affect the divorce being final. But he began hinting in the conversation that there are a number of other unresolved issues. And because he is just that type of person — He hinted at them but when I asked him what they were, he wouldn’t tell me. “Call your attorney” was all he’d say.

Ugh. I could just cry out of frustration and anger that I am still married to that philandering jerk. I just want this to be O-V-E-R.

I’m waiting on a call back from my attorney.

I’ll keep you posted on what the mysterious issues are. I’m off to pout now.

This day is dragging on and on…It’s Friday and I’m anxious to hurry up and begin enjoying what will be my last relaxing weekend for a while.

In my course of blog hopping, I learned a couple new phrases. Each one is a regional way of saying “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere…”. So pop open that bottle of pino and let’s get the weekend started!

“Oh, I think the Boeing just flew over.” (South Africa)

“Was that the train?” (New England…in reference to the afternoon commuter train going by, indicating the end of the work day)

“The sun’s over the yardarm.” (I think this comes from ships at sea…but not entirely sure.)

“The bats are flying.” (Southern US…bats come out at dusk)

Does anyone know any others? While you think about it, I’m going to go have a drink.

Happy Weekend!!

When I was a working person before (back before Jack was born), casual Fridays (in the government office where I worked) meant men could get away with open collars and women could get away with dressy khaki pants and maybe a sweater. So casual Friday wasn’t really anything that exciting.

But in the office I’m in now, Casual Friday means jeans. I love it. For one day a week, I am allowed to slip into the wardrobe I spent the last four years in. Jeans, chunky sweaters, cute t-shirts, clogs. So not only is it Friday and I won’t have to set the alarm tonight before I go to bed, but I get to spend the day feeling comfy. As the weather gets warmer, however, I am curious to see if Casual Friday extends to my ultimate in comfort wear: flip flops. (I own no less than 30 pairs of them. All colors, all styles. I LOVE flip flops.)

In other (non-wardrobe) news: an update after yesterday’s shocking Daily Report discovery. I talked with some people in my office about it who have/had children in day care about the situation. One of the women went to work in a day care for about 6 months before she returned to work because she wanted to see what environment her children would be in when she returned. She was a great resource in this conversation, along with all your encouragement and advice.

I decided to write a letter to the principal, for a number of reasons. In my previous interactions with her, she has been extremely condescending in conversation. Very quick to cut you off (while inserting those annoying counselor-esque phrases like “I hear what you’re saying, but…” or “What you’re telling me is xyz, but…”) and very quick to dismiss you. I also knew that I revert to one of two extremes in confrontational situations like this one was bound to be: 1) I concede immediately and say wimpy, push-over things or 2) I get so worked up that I am not able to form rational sentences or formulate cohesive arguments. Also, having given her a letter, I have a record of the information she got to pass up to her supervisor should the need arise.

So I typed up the letter yesterday, had a couple people look over it, and made a copy of the Daily Report that I attached to the letter. I did not address the host of other issues I have with the center, but rather stuck to only the issue of the fabricated Daily Report. When I went to pick the children up, I first walked into her office and handed it to her. (I was very friendly while doing so…) I foolishly assumed that in the 10-15 minutes it would take me to gather up the kids, pick up all the day’s artwork, etc, that she would have time to read the letter (it was only 3 well & strongly worded paragraphs) and at least acknowledge it when I left. (Her office is right next to the front door. To get in or out you have to walk right by her office door.)

I don’t know…I guess I thought she’d say something like “You’re right, this is not acceptable. We’ll look into it and get back to you.” Or something along those lines. But she didn’t. She had the vice principal in her office with her as I left and they both just turned to glare at me as I walked by.

I think I’ll give her until Monday to at least acknowledge the issue and then I’ll send the letter on to her supervisor. Is that too soon?

I’m going this afternoon to check out the new day care I mentioned yesterday. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy Friday!

I rarely talk on this blog about diet, exercise and weight loss. This has happened for a number of reasons, but mostly because I feel like this is my place to talk about single parents issues, rant about divorce stuff and as an outlet for working mom concerns. Oh, and also because there is only really one person in I will have completely honest discussions about weight/food issues/exercise with. So it’s not like I’m keeping it from my blogland friends, I keep it from everyone.

That said, I am going to depart from the normal today and talk about a couple things. I decided to do this because this is something looming large in my life right now. It’s yet another in the list of on-going struggles and challenges in my life. So while I don’t intend for a bright future to become a weight loss blog, you might hear more about it in weeks to come. I am sick of relying in Spanx to get me into my work clothes. And, I’m going to be back on the market soon…it’s time to look good again.

I want to lose 40-50 lbs. I am not setting a definite pound goal because I have heard too many stories about people shedding (for example) 49 lbs when they wanted to get rid of 60 but their body just wouldn’t do it. Their body was comfortable at the 49 lb loss and going any further was painful and they always slid back to the 49. So I’m going to aim between 40 and 50, and see what happens. To be healthy, I need to lose at least 40. But if I hit 40 and my body keeps going, I’m not going to complain.

In order to do this, two things need to happen: healthier eating and more exercise. Simple enough, right? ...

(read the rest at http://abrightfuture.wordpress.com)

Those were the first words out of Jack’s mouth this morning:

“Mom, I can’t get up because I have so much fog in my eyes.”

And I totally get it. That is a perfect way to describe how I feel many mornings when the alarm goes off at 5:15. Foggy.

I am feeling very guilty this morning for begrudging the fact that my mornings are again being slowed by Jack and Will. I missed them terrible while they were gone last week with their dad, but I enjoyed only being responsible for getting one person ready in the morning, and getting to work earlier without having to swing by the day care. (Since I strongly dislike that place anyway it was a treat to get to avoid it all week!) Need to work on the guilt and the grudge.

I don’t doubt that while at their father’s house bedtime was merely a suggestion — Not something actually enforced. I am also sure they got to sleep in, lounge around in pajamas all day and eat whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. So when I appeared in their room this morning at 6:30 and turned the lights on, Jack understandably had fog in his eyes.

On the whole though it seems like their visit didn’t reek the normal havoc on them that visits with their dad normally do. He had managed to use lotion on Will’s eczema skin so he didn’t return like a piece of sandpaper. And Jack went through his normal ‘returning to the land of rules’ fussies, but nothing I wasn’t expecting.

So Happy Monday — I’m going to wipe the fog out of my own eyes and get to work.