Episode IV: A New Hope (?)

[dday101798]

Nice weekend overall. Made pancakes for the first time ever on Saturday, boys were impressed and so was I. Heck, we ate like kings all weekend long really. S10 didn't get in much trouble over his missing books so he went and got a replacement library card Saturday afternoon, got his books and I let him go to the party and he ended up staying with his friend overnight.

FIL sent BIL after me for the money, of which he only got my portion and said nothing of the rest. I showed BIL how much I have in bills to pay, inluding now collection notices for W's Ob/Gyne visits that I didn't receive normal insurance claims on because she had them sent to her. He couldn't believe it and, well, must have spoke up about it.

Renter is being completely shadey, I'm suspecting he'll bail soon enough.

Money, the root of all evils is tight because W used to handle all the finances and didn't juggle things very well. I see now how stressing it can be, but she never made the sacrafices to quit partying all the time to save money for what it was needed for. So, I've got a good handle on things for the most part, it took a while to get things under wraps, but I'm there. And now that I'm not having to deal out the entire 'rent' payment from my account and collect fromt the renter, it shouldn't be much a issue soon. It will be for the next month or so, but I'll figure a way, I always do.

I make a fairly decent living all things concidered. As said, the way things were handled up til now made things tight, but I think I'll be okay. Overall, it's just to big a house, and the utlities are pretty high, so I'm on the look for something smaller. Also, the mortgage is high because FIL borrowed against it and sucked all the equity out. Matter of fact, a friend of mine who stayed over the summer, popped back into town yesterday and we're exploring other options this week. I love my house and hate to leave it, but it clearly is no longer my house, so time to go. He also offered to sell me his van on payments, so have a few things in the works.

Also spoke with my cousin and still have her as a fall back in case all else fails. We both agree that the best thing right now is to keep the boys in their schools, they have enough going on already.

For extra money, I need a garage, then I can do 'side jobs' again turning wrenches. I did go and get a degree in automotive engineering back a few years ago in hope of entering the field, but the entry level pay was just unacceptable so I'm sticking with where I'm at now, I've been with here for now my 10th year and have good propects for the future here all the higher ups like me and I have a great reputation, so I wont get greedy and blow a good thing you know? Back when we bought the house a few years ago, I did make a internal move that I regreted and took on a postion I hated. I like what I do now, and it pays the bills, so I've got what I need.