Lots of things have been going on in my world lately (still, lol). One thing that especially is irksome is the ex. I'm not writing about him because he deserves it (the power to torque me off), but because I just need to complain! =)

Our son's 15. He sees his dad once, maybe twice a month (his dad's choice because of work or to be truthful, because he's "busy" with his life). When they're together, sometimes they'll go fishing. Most other times though, the ex will be in the house, sleeping or watching TV while our son is mowing his almost 4 acres of lawn or "playing" with the dogs (sorry, but he's 15....that shouldn't in my feeble mind, be something he does for more than a couple of minutes, he's not a little kid).

Maybe I'm a big critic but to me, considering the lack of time they get together, I believe it should be quality time, like if nothing else, TALKING to each other, working on "guy things" in the garage or what-have-you.

The ex calls me constantly so I had my hubby take our cell phone with him to work. That worked for a while. He purposely did nothing for school preparations and bragged about this "windfall of money" he'd received. He's having this big party/bbq, got dentures, bought a bunch of computer items, some new clothes and who knows what else (I stopped listening as the list grew). Based on the little I did hear, all I could think of was, "Awesome! I'm gunna get some help buying school books this year & he could buy a couple pair of jeans or a new pair of shoes."

So...."Okay," (reluctantly) "I'll buy him some shoes."

I'm happy. My son comes home w/cheapie Wally World shoes. No support, and I see the insoles are out of them & laying in the box. I'm like (wth??!!), "Hey, (son's name), are these your school shoes?" "Yeah." "They're in pieces! You can't wear these & they are very cheap, they'll hurt your feet." (He has problems w/his feet so he does indeed need decent shoes). "Dad bought those for himself, and he took the insoles out because they didn't feel right. He gave them to me to wear for school because they don't fit him."

My blood is boiling. My son wears a 10-1/2 shoe. These were 9's! Obviously in the state the shoes are in, the ex couldn't return them & passed them off, as if he was a wonderful father, caring for his son.

We exchanged words. He's storing the shoes at his house in a closet, I presume, somewhere.

So, fast forward to school registration. I never heard about when it was this year, because I've remarried & moved so I called to ask the ex if he'd heard anything. He's like, "Yeah. It's today." (wth???!!) I'm like, there's not a way in the world I can do that today!" "Okay I'll take him, but I don't have a lot of time."

Cool. NOT.

He bitched the whole time they were registering, he didn't get information corrected about diabetic needs, update home information properly, didn't bother verifying bus information, didn't pay for books, school pictures or lunches. Didn't even give me any indication that ALL of the afore mentioned things "had" to be paid for and clear THAT day.

My son gets home. Bummed. His dad bitched at him the whole time, he knew things weren't done right & they got into a few arguments at the school about needing things corrected. The ex kept spouting off that he had no time & that everything was too expensive and he had no money for any of it. He also laid into our son about how I was a lax mother because I didn't do the registration.

So I call him & ask him calmly the lowdown on what went on. He claimed he knew some things were incorrectly listed on paperwork because he couldn't read w/o his glasses.

I could spit and I also could write a blog that would be a million pages long (ha!!) about all of this.

Bottom line is: I've been working for the last week & a half to fix all the problems the ex caused for our son, me & my husband with the school for this school year. He's paid NOTHING whatsoever, not even for a pair of socks!

My son's school pictures may not even be something I can purchase until retakes. The bus schedule is causing the school fits because we're "an exception" now all of a sudden.

The biggest thing that gets my goat from all of this, other than the fact I know w/o a doubt the ex did this to "force my hand" to let him off the hook for doing anything at all that deals with being a responsible & active parent is:

Our son still thinks his dad is great.

*sigh* =(

That all makes me sound so catty......