Court house of Love

My MIL just brought more photos from her camera. Look how tan we are! That was only 2 weeks ago! We've pretty much all lost it except for Greg due to his working outside. So his head and neck are very tan.

And we all got so excited because this weekend was so sunny. Sunday it was very warm, in the mid-60s. Yesterday it rained a lot but it was still in the low 60s. This morning when I drove Sarah to school, we had a windchill of 17 frickin' degrees. That's just not right. Spring time in Michigan. Sarah was pissed. She ranted about the weather for most of the drive, while I tried to explain Spring time here and how manic it is.

I had to call DTE this morning to see how much I paid for our gas bill so that I can deduct 33% for the apartment upstairs. As the guy read off the numbers: $286.45, $279.37, $189.29, etc. I felt my stomach lurch. On and on with the big numbers. In the summer months it was usually $60 or so. All of this wouldn't be so bad, but our house is so cold and we keep our thermostat at 62. It's just not right. One would never describe their physical state as "comfortable" while visiting our house any time between October through early May. Unless you're sitting in front of one of the space heaters, you might describe yourself as being "quite ready to leave".

I swear I'll quit bitching about the weather and waiting for real Spring. Give me a few months and I'll be bitching about how damn humid it is and how I can't get out of the shower without working up a sweat as I towel off.

So nothing terribly exciting right now. I have to go to court tomorrow with my mom who has filed for divorce from husband #2. He's a lovely man, if you're into that irresponsible, alcoholic, coke addict type. Seriously, he is nice. He's just a train wreck. And he makes my mom miserable. He's nearly 60, has worked for Ford all his life and besides their house, hasn't got a pot to piss in. No retirement, barely a pension. Everything he earns goes straight up his nose or to his liver for a little more pickling action. He was served his divorce papers back in September where it was advised he get a lawyer. He received another letter in October really advising him to get a lawyer. He did nothing. Now they've got a court date for tomorrow and he still hasn't got a lawyer. And he keeps telling their friends that they're "working things out", despite the fact they haven't really spoken in months. Hmmm, I think I've heard something about alcoholics living in denial, no? My mom's lawyer wrote a nice, fair settlement. We're hoping that mom's husband kind of blips of remembering this court date. His absence would make the whole thing final tomorrow. But I think he'll get it together enough to show, despite not having a lawyer. This makes my mom nervous. I told her she should expect this to drag out a bit, and if it doesn't then that will be a pleasant surprise. Until then, expect a bit of dragging. When my parents divorced, my mom demanded virtually nothing because it was stressful and she didn't want to be a "bitch". So she got virtually nothing but a pittance of a child support payment and nothing else. I told her she's too old and uninsured to play that card and she needs to find some inner-bitch this time around. Her lawyer seems like a really cool woman.

I hope it goes well and to make it AllAboutMe, I really hope we don't end up sitting around in the Monroe County court house all day waiting for a 10 minute session where Mr. Happy Drunk pulls himself together enough to say, "I need time to find a lawyer", and then we're given another court date. It would be great if he just agrees to the very reasonable settlement and we call it a day, a marriage. Then we can work on what to do with mom next. It's so weird. I was asked to be their witness when they got married at a court house, and now here I am escorting my mom to another court house for a divorce. I really hope it goes well.

Eamon is napping, Sarah's at school and my MIL has gone home. I should do something productive but I can't rouse myself to do anything. I sold another book on half.com, so I need to mail that off today. Half.com is my get-rich-real-slow scheme. I sell a book for around $4 every 9 days or so. It's barely making a dent in my huge collection of books I Don't Want Anymore, and it's making even less of a dent in my shallow checking account. But it's something. I've sold cookbooks, gardening books, and today's book is War and Peace. Who on earth would buy that for $1 (brand new paperback, yellowing pages from 15 years on our shelves)? I listed it so cheaply because it has a bargain book sticker on there that says 1 Pound. I couldn't scrape the sticker off and figured I couldn't sell for more than $1. This guy is paying more for shipping than he is the book. Cha-ching, there goes $3.47 into my checking account. I know you're jealous.