Today we got a money order. It was dated 1/9/09 so she bought it AFTER she said she fed ex'd it to her mom. Whatever! It was for the full amount of the past due medical bills, minus the $5 because she said she found an error. It was $363.92... but she still hasn't paid for November & December's bills. I'm not complaining, just noting the irony that she'll subtract $5 but still owes nearly $100 on the medical, $1,000 to the attorney and $1,800 in support (DH was adding them all together when he said $3,000) Consequences? They don't want to put parents in jail. I guess as a last resort, they will. The papers she was served with say right on it that she can be put in jail or pay a fine. That is probably why she paid. She still owes $1,000 to the attorney. I guess now she is supposedly working. She had gotten a job for a major package delivery company over the holidays and was trying to keep it secret. She apparently is still working there, IF she isn't lying. Who knows? When DH told her he lost his insurance, she said she would see about putting SD on her insurance but right now she's on COBRA until she's hired full time. It didn't sound right to me so I don't know if I believe ANYTHING the woman says. Of course, I didn't believe she would pay but she did. We'll see what she has to say about the attorney's fees. Oh, her wedding that she asked me to bake a cake for???? She told SD that she won't be able to get married this year after all because she has no money, she has to pay child support. (yeah.. again, it's our fault!) She doesn't mention to SD that she's still married to her big sister's daddy. I had a heart to heart with SD tonight and told her that I don't know what she's being told but I have NOTHING to do with the court case. (her mom told her she was served with papers from me and DH) I told her that we didn't 'steal' her from her mom, her mom decided to move away and 'gave' her to us. (her mom keeps telling her we took her away from her mom and won't give her back) I told her that we are not trying to keep her from her mom, in fact... DH is having to 'force' BM to pick her up herself, that her mom wants grandma to come get her but we know SD wants her mom to so that is why DH is making her. (BM was telling SD that we are trying to keep her from going over there) and I told her that if her mom calls, I answer the phone and give it to her ALWAYS. (her mom has been telling her that she calls but we won't answer the phone because we are trying to keep SD from her) I also told her that her mom is her mom and nothing is ever going to change that. I told her that I'm sorry she has been hurt and that it hurts me to see her suffer and that it hurts me even more when she treats me badly, like it's my fault for what her mom is doing. She was crying and looked over to me and broke down even more, telling me how sorry she is for being mean to me all the time. I told her that I understand why she does it but that it's not okay to treat someone bad and expect them to be nice to her. I told her how I raised my kids to treat others the way you want to be treated and when she treats me bad, then that's how I think she wants me to treat her. I told her I don't want to treat her like that, I want her to be happy here, that all we want is for her to be healthy, happy and be the best her she can be. She came over and we hugged, I told her I love her and she said sorry again. I have to admit, it was emotionally draining for me because we've had talks like this before.. never this emotional, but she always reverts back to treating me like crap when she comes back from her mom. (I do have issues with trusting her after we've been through this so many times & I do get hurt when she goes back to treating me badly) I didn't bad mouth her mom at all, but I did tell her what the truth is and I told her that I won't lie to her, if she wants the truth... she can ask me and even if she might not like the answer, I won't lie. I'm pretty sure she already knows the truth about her mom... after all, she knows her mom WAY better than I ever will.

We both will bust out laughing at things we find funny. Especially the antics of animals. Back when we had several Great Danes we were laughing a lot. Our little dog now will also perform some act to get us going. Quite often at tv shows too. I don't even remember what the conversation was or what we were watching but I made the comment quel grimace! Because someone was making a face.(imagine a baby tasting a lemon for the first time) My husband looked at me for a second and said did you just say Pale Green Moss?? To this day if he looks at me and says Pale green moss I just bust out laughing. The original time it happened I literally was on the floor laughing with tears. I will occasionally start saying things in Cajun French like that and he does not know the language so he just looks at me waiting for the English version LOL. By now though he has learned a few of my choice phrases including quel grimace!

Aw - too bad your folks did that. I remember coming to the dinner table in tears; I'd been reading Grapes of Wrath, I was 11, and it was just way too much for me. My dad took it from me and asked me to wait a bit before I went back for it. It helped calm me a bit and gave us a chance to talk. Then he let me finish it. I don't think they ever censored anything I read. I remember reading a book about Pompei, but I was older. Very unsettling, but even more so as an adult when I got to see the remains at the Naples Archaeology Museum, and of course seeing Pompei itself. Wow.

Pardon me while I crash this thread to vent. Today's main vent is tangentially related to kitchens: we designed an eat-in kitchen in our remodel, so our formal dining room is now a guest room, and the workman I'm venting about is doing finish carpentry in that area. He's taking two days to do what should be about a four-hour job, he's been over two hours late each day, and he's pushing me to pay the balance of the job in cash due to some income restriction/tax dodge that's, frankly, not my business OR my problem. I was mildly sympathetic to his plea, but when he emailed at 9.50am for our 10am appointment to say he'd be here at 11am IF he could find parking; then emailed at noon to whine about not being able to find a spot.....let's just say my sympathy dried right up. Today's minor vent: we've been at substantial completion on our kitchen-plus job since December 2014, GC has done about half the punchlist and the longer he waits to do the rest (and get paid his retainer), the more problems crop up: a tile might be lifting off the bathroom floor, a kitchen cabinet door is hanging improperly, we suspect the bathroom vent is not quite doing its job because there's a musty smell that takes a while to build up but is definitely there. Will this danged job EVER end???????