Warped Gratitude Blog

Today I'm thankful....for music. I bought a car.  It's eighteen years old.  It has just a few miles on it and an updated stereo system.  It drives like a dream. I drove it 500 miles on a single tank of gas.  I wanted to see Georgia O'Keefe's ranch. My kids love to draw and paint. I thought we could all be inspired. So...the lawyer sent out an eviction letter.  Michael agreed to watch the kiddo's fish. We left. The kids only let me get as far as Raton.  It took us four days and three hotel rooms. They wanted to go home and check on the fish. I made the drive home in less than a day. When I arrived, my ex-husband was there. The betta fish was floating upright with his body twisted and his gills cut out. There was blood.  I was angry. My lawyer said he needed another $1,500 to proceed with a contempt citation.  In my anger, I took the money out of my IRA sent it to the lawyer and demanded that he get my e...

Today I am thankful for the sounds of change. This J Lo song cracks me up.  I don't mind doing laundry, cooking and cleaning up for someone who is servicing me, helping with the bills or is in a relationship with me. It's hard when I'm divorced, paying all of the bills and supporting an ex-husband I've asked to move out since October of 2013. I feel like I'm being played. Luckily he doesn't ask for too much...just food, gas money his auto insurance and cell phone bill in addition to what I pay to keep the household running. If it's temporary and he uses this time to get on his feet, it feels like an investment.  If he continues to do what he's been doing, I feel like I'm just enabling him. When he asks for money, I think of this song.  To be fair, I think of this song when I daydream about wanting things, too.  I know it's bad.... It's the truth. Mike has driven me a few dealerships and picked me up from wo...

Today I am thankful for OBD II code readers. At least I was thankful for it, until Michael gave it away. My car bit the dust last month, the day after I signed my mini-van over to Michael.  An employee of CenturyLink hit the van and his company offered Michael $1980.00 for the damage. Michael was awarded the sportscar in the divorce.  I got the mini-van I paid for with student loan money.  Michael started driving my van the day of the divorce claiming that the car was damage beyond repair. So, it was my car.  It was my money.  I signed the title over to Michael as I thought that money would help him move out of my house. Now, I don't know if Michael was being helpful or sabotaging.  He and the neighbor offered to fix my car as it needed a new water pump.  They put tap water in the cooling system.  When it started up and ran for several minutes, it began to heat up very fast.  Water heats up much faster than coolant. At this po...