Had a long conference call with The Mouthpiece and associate. He's pretty much fed up with the counter-counter-counter game. We're drafting a letter to The Other Side that proposes everyone sit down with a mediator because, as The Mouthpiece put it, "Someone needs to explain to them what the law is in the Real World."
If they demur or fail to show, we're straight to the courthouse.
As far as the house kerfluffle goes, his recommendation was: stay put. If STBX stops paying the mortgage, don't pay it; she can't list it without my signature, and it'd take at least a year for the bank to get around to having me evicted (and since I'm an owner STBX can't have me evicted), and since The Other Side is holding "an immediate house sale" out as a threat to produce a "reasonable" (i.e., the one STBX likes) settlement, it's about time to call their bluff. Is STBX willing to take the hit to her credit rating that a foreclosure would produce? Let's see just how hard a game of hardball The Other Side wants to play. And by the time that year passed, I'd be preparing to leave anyway since that was The Plan in the first place (to keep the older one stabilized in school where he's comfortable until the natural elementary-middle school transition).
STBX sent me a nasty-gram yesterday, thanking me for reminding her every single day "just how right" she was when she dropped the Bomb: "We were never anything; we never had anything; I left nothing behind."
I replied: "You're very welcome! :)" [smiley face included]
I suspect that wasn't the reply she was hoping for LOL.
She does this, every now and again -- this weird "see, I told you we weren't a good couple" or "it's not like I want you bankrupt (and not just because you're the kids' dad)" or "I wasn't really sure about D until now" kind of thing. The other day, for some reason that eludes me, she texted in response to learning from the kids that I'd shot down their idea/wish that STBX would accompany us on our summer vacation, "See? We're both done with each other."
If I didn't know better, I'd wonder if it wasn't some kind of back-a**wards status-checking -- "is he still into me?" Or -- worse -- if she wasn't hinting at still being into me and wanting to see how I might reply. Or maybe she doesn't even know she's doing it.
I'm just tired of it, whatever it is. It drains the energy in a way that's just not helpful. Sign the friggin' papers, give me my money, and go about your business already.
