Another Update

Cheer/Football -- My meeting with Brian went wonderfully. I really felt he listened to what I had to say. I know he took my suggestions to heart because he & his wife discussed some of them, and he & I talked about five specific suggestions I made. Among the ones he liked & agreed with: (1) A "Team Meeting" early in the season. He also said he was contemplating having one at the end of the season, to get some feedback from parents & cheerleaders/football players as to what's working, what's not, and suggestions from team members & parents for upcoming years. (2) More streamlined uniform fittings, with two lines; one for cheer & one for football... also, maybe a mid-week/evening time frame instead of just a Saturday morning. (3) More & better notification for upcoming events, appts, meetings, & schedule changes. (4) Having a team parent for the cheerleaders (each team) so that the coaches (which are high school girls) can focus on teaching the girls, plus their own schoolwork & cheer practices; leaving each team with an actual adult to go to for any reason (like the football players have). (5) Asking the younger players' parents (like the 3/4's) to be part of the volunteer staff; get them in early means a higher chance of things working more smoothly, as those parents are more likely to be in that position for a few years, then they can train & hand off the position to another young player's parent when their kid ages out of the Youth program. I told Brian that this will better insure continuity in the program. Although I can't fix the program to run better, I feel talking to Brian about my specific concerns (& the fact that I wasn't the only one with them) was the right thing to do. My hope is that if Princess makes the squad, and decides to coach-assist next year (as a Freshman, she can't be an actual coach), the program is run better & is more organized.

Household -- Our flooring is just about done being installed. We had to stop last week so we could have Charter install our new garage-to-house door, reinstall our front door, & fix some water damage there (on our dime, of course; these aren't part of the home owner's claim). The crew will finish installing the floors today, and next week, the trim will be installed & all the "stuff" will be put back where it goes.

Medical -- Ace is *supposed* to return to work full-bore on Thursday. The problem is that he's still in pain, can't easily do stairs, and by the end of a day at home, his leg is uncomfortably swollen. He has a call in to the doc about it, plus wants to do some physical therapy. I started occupational therapy a week and a half ago; I have two 3X-daily therapies to do. These are not easy, and cause me some discomfort, so I will assume it's working. I go back for my second appointment on Thursday.

Work -- I am busy. I checked the numbers yesterday... I'm currently averaging $300/m more (gross) this year than last. My books are 80% - 90% full; I'm working, on average, 35hrs/week. I feel a bit overwhelmed, though, because this increase seemed to come in a jump soon after our accident. So, not only am I working away from home more, but I also took on the majority of the housework & all of Princess' taxi duty. When you're used to a spouse who actually does half of the home/parent responsibilities, then you have to do it all for a while, the stress kind of gets to you. We're at the tail end now, though...

Legal -- (A) Our case is moving along slowly, but surely. Doug estimates I'll have a settlement offer within 6m, and Ace will have one before 1yr. We're hoping sooner rather than later, but the biggest concern is long-term physical & emotional damage. But, everything so far looks good. (B) I have to laugh... I got this email from Wildebeest, signed with S.D.'s name of course, when Princess & I were en route to my sister's wedding last weekend: "D*** - It has been brought to my attention that M******* is traveling out of state. As is required by law you are to supply me with a complete travel itinerary as well as contact information for her while she is traveling. This is just one of many blatant court order violations, continually not allowing me to talk to her, repeatedly failing to inform me of her activities, repeated failures to provide travel info. Please provide me this information immediately or there will be consequences.- M***" My response was simply, "I thought I sent it, but I may be mistaken. I do apologize. She & I are headed to Rapid City & will return Sunday afternoon." Let's address the points, one by one, shall we? First, I simply forgot. It's so few & far between that anything happens that I am required to share with him that occasionally, something gets forgotten. Second, it is not "required by law"; technically, it is "required by court order". Third, as anyone with half a brain could tell you, Princess wants nothing to do with her S.D. That's why 2+ years ago, she told him to (basically) leave her alone. Since then, he hasn't made ONE ATTEMPT to call, see, or contact her (which is actually how she prefers it)... unless you count the two birthdays & two Santamases since, when the Wildebeest dropped off gifts for her (last Santamas, we actually got them at the end of January). Fourth, I inform him of her activities as required by our court order. I can't be held accountable for his inability to look for or find specific information that everyone else with that same info can find. Fifth, there is really no need to provide detailed travel info anymore... but I've never intentionally & maliciously withheld it. Sixth, I'd LOVE to know what these "serious consequences" are... Pretty sure his repeated failures to pay child support & the six attorney fee judgments to me would go over a lot worse than the minor, unintentional, infractions I've done. And, last, after all these years, why does Wildebeest still do S.D.'s correspondence? I don't know about you, but in my relationship, I completely trust my husband to communicate anything he wants to with his ex-wife. It's pathetic, really, that Wildebeest still doesn't trust S.D.