Whee

I hate EOG's and Sarah has strep throat.

Yay.

Well, This Is Fun

Have I mentioned that I hate EOG's?

I Have Been to a Custody Court Hearing, Nothing Can Scare Me Ever Again

First of all, on the absolutely highest note ever, the custody case went in my favor.

Thank God.

I don't think that I really knew how much this was scaring me and weighing on me until it was over. The thought of my kids having go all the way to California for every other holiday and three weeks during the Summer made my heart cold in ways that I can't even begin to describe, and that was what I considered to be the best possible outcome. I really thought that it was going to be worse.

It went better than I could ever possibly have hoped. Apparently having the other parent show absolutely zero interest in the court proceedings tends to tilt things in your favor.

Go figure.

So, I have sole custody and visits are to be here in North Carolina. He and I get to decide when and how long any visits would be. Which is amazing. I would love for him to come out here and visit, I think that it would be great for the kids. We'll see what happens this Summer I guess.

On an absolutely hysterical note, there were only three other people in the courtroom besides myself and another girl who happened to have the same lawyer as I did (she was in a similar situation and things went well for her in court too, I was so glad). Anyway, the court session began with role call, and the other people in the room weren't on the roster. One gentleman was there for a traffic violation that had to be handled at another courthouse, he left. The two people left (who also ended up going to another courthouse) were a man and a woman that sat on the opposite side of the room from each other. The judge asked them why they were there, and the woman stood up and said:

"Your honor, we're here on account of I tried to kick his a**, and he was gonna press charges, but we worked things out and he don't wanna press charges no more."

God's honest truth.

At the very least it made for a good ice breaker.

Update on the Mac & Cheese Recipe

... because I know that everyone was holding their breath.

After blithely writing this post, I have to unfortunately continue my search for the perfect Macaroni and Cheese recipe. Sigh.

Darnit, and I loved the thought of this one too. It was so simple. Nah, I'm not lazy, I'm uh, efficient. Yeah, that's it.

After a couple of attempts, different techniques, and different cheeses, I have to call this recipe a failure. Although it could just be me...

No matter what I do, the texture is grainy. Ughh, it's terrible! I mean the flavor is fantastic, but unless you enjoy a little sand with your mac and cheese, this recipe just doesn't cut it for me.

Damn.

Movies in the park

I absolutely love North Carolina. You know why? Because what we did last night would have been crowded, expensive, and a total hassle if we had done it in California.

Our local parks and recreation department is hosting a summer "Movies in the Park Series." How cool is that? Last night, the movie pick was Pink Panther 2, admittedly not something that I was dying to see, but Alex loved the first Pink Panter movie so I packed up Sarah, invited Grandma and Grandpa, and off to the park we went.

What was even neater, more cool, cooler? (Sorry, I'm not very grammatically correct late at night...) was that you could boat-in to the movie too. The park that is on the edge of the lake, and you just moor up in the cove in front of this gigantic inflatable movie screen.

Cool huh? I thought so too.

I was all excited about this part, thinking we could go with my parents in their boat... until my mom judiciously pointed out that containing Sarah (a very restless 2-year-old), on a boat, for several hours, in the dark, would probably not be the best idea. Good thinking mom!


Usually Sometimes, I forget myself and my romantic, idealistic side shouts down my logical side...

So anyways, we parked on the grass with our blankets, snacks, drinks, and ten-gallon tubs of bug repellant and proceeded to have an absolutely wonderful evening. I think that last night is going to be one of my favorite memories of this summer. Cheesy movie notwithstanding. Maybe.