Bookends

[Survival_Goddess]

Hot and Smokey
It is HOT here in NorCal...the typical week of triple digit weather has begun. My house doesn't have AC...and 50 weeks out of the year it is quite comfortable. This week, however it has not. In a little bit I will be packing up the dog and heading to the coast where it is a more comfortable 80 degrees...and at least the air is clean!

There are over 1000 fires burning in California right now. The air is ORANGE and it scratches the back of my throat. Every evening the moon is glowing red and the sunsets, while spectacular, are tinged with an angry red. The heat, combined with the bad air has kind of encouraged me to lay low and stay indoors.

Later this Summer The Ex is taking both kids on a trip to Iowa for the Bix which is a 7 mile race up and down some hills. He goes regularly, but the last time we took a vacation as a family, and the last time I saw many of my in laws was in 2003 when we all went to Iowa. I knew about the OW at that time and was "waiting on the curb" as we called it in MLC. In my MIL's guest room H held me before he left (he was returning to CA to get back to work) and told me "I choose you". I went on to Chicago with the kids and then met back w/ H at home in California. Six weeks later I found the rental application w/ both of their names on it, and he moved out.

It will be nice for the kids to see that side of the family. And it is nice for H to pay for the trip, given the price of tickets these days.

When DD was here she shared her pictures of H and his family from her trip over Christmas. H is the youngest of 11 children. Looking at them all (the 10 that are left, anyway) I had to admit to D that H was the best looking one. She agreed, but she noted that it is because he takes good care of himself, eats well and doesn't smoke and drink.

Not sure if I mentioned this before or not...When we D'd I was working a "big" job with an excellent income and I decided also for other reasons that I did not want spousal support. I did get the house, and that was a good deal for me. Since then I lost the "big" job and have been working part time at numerous jobs to make ends meet.

I was planning on dipping into savings this month when I got a surprise check from the H...for the amount of the mortgage. It really helped tremendously. I sent him a thank you note.

One of my girlfriends noted to me that Ex H is decent in many ways. He has MAJOR issues, but in general he has been pretty decent. So it goes.

So life goes on!
Hope that the air you breathe today is clean and clear!

SG