Well, due to a slippery fingered typo and the 50 year old eyes that did not catch it, we are now here      http://justourlittlesliceoflife.blogspot.com/    instead of  here, where we thought we were. Lol!

Hopefully no one gets lost on the road to here, and a BIG thanks to my young eyed daughter for catching the old Italian ladies mistake.

See you there......

So it appears that I have become a master on avoiding my homework.  
But no more!!
I am now fully on task. 
Only because I have promised to reward myself with something fun tomorrow if I get it all done today. 

So back to work I go --- for real this time

Tick Tock Tick Tock

So it is countdown time to the mediation. 
In less than 40 hours a stranger will decide what is best for my Grandson
Someone that has never held him. 
Never read him a story or made up a fanciful tale of trolls and gnomes in a village far far away.
Who never saw the wonder on his face the first time he saw snow or puppies
Someone who wasn't there the first time he tried ice cream or felt the sand between his little toes
Not the person that has watched his little cheeks turn beet red when a little girl smiled at him, or when he was feeling shy
They won't know that he hates nuts but loves lorna doone cookies.
Their heart has never ached with pride during a school play or the first time he went to a door to trick or treat. 
They were not there when he was born. Not there  to see the cord around his neck at or to weep with relief when they heard his first beautiful cry

But they will be the one to decide how much and how often his parents see him.  
Therefore they will be the one that decides the same for us, Nana and Baba.  
His daddy doesn't let us see him when he has him, so the only option we have is when he is with his Mama. 
There has been so many changes in his little life in the last year, and in all of ours.  
It is going to be a long 40 hours  .... tick tock   tick tock 

This is my nemesis

A formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent

I am not an artist

This is like paper dolls to me

I dutifully trace 

and draw various lines

                                        

 

 and then have no clue what has happened. 

And to think, I signed up for this madness of my own free will

In the underestimate of the year category.....

This has been a long and winding week. 

The dips and turns amongst the gamut of emotions here at Badnana's would make a rollercoaster designer weep. 
We are hanging in and hanging on. As always, counting our blessings and the joys that life brings. 
A quick recap of this week's blessings and joys:
We make new jammies  -- long

and short

With comfy warm pillow and blankie to match

 We mix

and roll

And get fussed up

We cut out

and we decorate 

We visit

We share

 And  ALWAYS  we celebrate

 We celebrate the breathe we take. 

The moments we spend together.

The laughter, the love, and the joy of being together

Together... that is what we celebrate 

Happy Sunday all.  

Celebrate it

Picture of the Day

My favorite cookie 

The others and how they got here

Super simple recipe - just a few ingredients

 Yep, still in love with parchment paper

Oreo Sugar Cookies
Makes about 30              Oven 325                  14-18 min per tray  

1 cup butter
3 oz mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk - beaten
2.5 cups flour
1 1/2  tsp vanilla
8-10  crushed Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 325 F. 

Grate butter,  and cream with mascarpone cheese for about 3 minutes. 

Slowly beat in the sugar until light and fluffy, about 3- 4  minutes

 Beat egg yolk with vanilla, then slowly add  in the flour until completely  mixed. 

Lightly crush Oreos and add to mix. 

Using a cookie scoop dipped in sugar, scoop cookie dough on to a cookie sheet 

Bake at 325 degrees for 15 - 18  minutes.

Let cool for a couple of minutes on the pan,  move to serving tray

So it is finally time.  My soon to be ex son in law has had papers served to my Daughter and the mediation and court dates looms in not too distant future.

She came home and found the papers dumped on her doorstep, no envelope, nothing. Like leaves that blew in the wind, ending their journey at her door.

The papers were drawn up the day she told him that she was keeping the little man on Christmas Eve, so that he could be at our home like every year of his life.

They were filed on their anniversary.  Coincidence?  I think not.

He is trying to take my Grandson away from her. Saying she does not have his best interests at heart.  Mediation papers were filed and sent to an address he knows she no longer lives at.  She was lucky she found out at all.

He has moved into a house his mother bought. The rent will be what he can afford. He is trying to say he cannot afford much. He made over $50,000 clear last year.  He gives her $750 for child support and is asking that it be stopped because he will have the little man. He is asking that the court not allow spousal support and that she wave rights to it.

He has not bought one garment for his son.  Not one shoe. Not a crayon or piece of paper. He tells her that is what the child support is for.   Little dude used to go to soccer and karate, but he never paid anything towards those either and my daughter had to stop karate when she went out on disability.

She tries to take the little man to school functions, but he says she is interfering with his times and usually refuses. If he even responds.

It has been a truly rough 9 months since they separated.  Months filled with pain and heartache for a number of people.

We had a relationship with the SIL, or so I thought. Birthdays, holidays, family dinners, vacations, calls for advice on cooking or any number of things, using the washer, mowing the lawns, family things and family times.  Gone in the blink of eye. Relationships negated without so much as the courtesy of a fight.

I loved my Son in Law, I truly did. So much so that my Daughter often accused me of taking his side a lot. Maybe I did.   I cried on his birthday, knowing that for the first time in 10 years we would not celebrate it with him. 

We did not want this. Even after the separation we did not want this. We told him over and over that he is part of our family and would always be. We did our best.  In return he betrayed us in the most painful way of all. Keeping our Grandson away.

Before the seperation we often saw him on the the weekends or evenings when my daughter was at work. He and the little guy would come over and hang out or we would go to dinner or something with them. No more.

During the summer he started not coming over at all. Then not answering emails or text messages.  He became more and more of a jackwagon.  Doing mean things just because he could.

I often wonder if people realize the effects that a separation, and later a divorce have on a family. Outside of the core family that is. That is hard enough. 

The ripples that splash through layers and layers, each one pushing further and further out causing new, more painful ripples of their own. 

We used to have his family over too.  Part of the weekly gatherings. Now there is a wedge with them too, not because of anything we parents have done, but because of the lies and half truths that have peppered the past few months.

 His mother was out of his life and is coming to the party late. She wants to have faith and believe everything her son says.  So my daughter is the evil villain.

A year ago it was weekly dinners, and planning for family vacation. Now it is fear.  Never enough time and fear.  Fear that we will not see the little man. Never knowing when you might see him again. 

We have watched the changes in our little man and they are not always positive. He begs us to let him stay with us. He doesn't understand why he can't when we have a room for him. He has gone from laughing and outgoing to often sullen and not really speaking.

He told his Mama there is too much in his brain.  I get it completely little man, I really do.

The mediation is in two weeks.  The divorce hearing is the week after that. This proves to be a long and sleepless month.