I have less than two weeks to get the house livable or I am responsible for the entire ball of wax...no wait, ball game...
One of the Lowe's employees responsible for signing the restraining order, felt so badly for me, he turned me on to a friend of his who's a general contractor type individual.
We'll call this man "Tom" because that's how it's entered in my phone.
Tom seems to be of overall good character, not telling me during our first visit about his stint in the super max in Florence...which on my check list of contractors is now a plus!
Tom is just an old hippy/carpenter/tile-layer/kind-of-dude...who smokes menthol kings, walks with a limp, and calls me "Darlin". As in "Darlin, we gotta get this house fixed so you and that boy of yours can move on in", NOT "Darlin, that sure is some nice asbestos you got there"
The first night Tom came to asses the damage from hurricane Apostol, he helped me load the 876 lb. floor machine I had rented the day before from Crosslands, (yes they also rent giant balloon bounce things) into the back of the Pathfinder...effortlessly I might add. We both turn around to see The Sea Monster approaching, apparently to lend some sort of non-financial hand to the drama that is my life.
First he wanted to bum a cigarette, to which I replied, um "no". Then when I asked him where The Mer's child support was, ten days late at this time, he replied "It's in the mail"...I walked away, so as not to give Tom the impression I was somehow an unstable, emotionally volatile woman of Hellenic decent.
As I was moving in the opposite direction, I hear "Hey man, can I buy a cigarette from you for a quarter"...that was all I could muster, so I went inside my broken house and cried. (just for a second though since Mer-Boy was somewhere about.)
Yesterday morning I checked the balance on my Oklahoma Debit card Visa...the one child support payments are made through...you know where this is going don't you?
Last month we had this to deal with, well the bastard did it again. Failing to provide documentation to child support enforcement of the current order. He paid the $238, but this time we only got $109...not even $127 from the old order.
Once again he used this as an opportunity to get caught up on his back child support, at the cost of his son. Now I've been understanding as hell the last few months, they've been doing the Cub Scout thing together, Chess Tournaments, etc. and while I don't like the sonofabitch, he's still The Mer's father, and he truly has been trying (for TSM trying) but that's $240 his self-centered shit has cost Mer.
Why The Mer got no new school clothes, or violin for strings. I bust my ass to be the best mom/dad/grandma/grandpa/aunt/uncle I can be, however I cannot do it all Internet.
I promise you though, I surely will keep trying.
What is this guy's problem? What part of "you are ordered to pay X amount" doesn't he understand?
Posted by: Stef | Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 01:55 PM