You Make the Call

If the absent parent is $10,239.00 in arrears with his child support, is not making his payments on a consistent timely basis, is not even attempting to make small payments to the arrears, should he send his child, whom he has had little to no contact with, a cell phone? Keep in mind, that a mobile phone, whether pay-as-you-go or one added to an existing plan, is an ongoing expense. Right? And if you are not currently paying the support needed for your child, does it make any sense to spend money monthly in order for the teen to have a luxury item?

I understand that a lot of teens have cell phones, but how many of them pay for their own, and how many have parents or someone else who have afforded them that privilege? I cannot afford that expense, and Jenn can't either since she is extremely involved at school with band, drivers education, and being an FFA officer. For some reason, she thinks that since her cousin down the street has had one for a long time now (in teen time a year is a long time) and he brother now has a cell phone, she should have one. Ryan lucked out for now. He has a friend who added him to their plan. It may not be the smartest move, and could flop should he not soon get a job.

As a single parent on a limited budget, I tend to watch what we spend money on as closely as possible. A cell for either of them is out of the question. There is no argument when it comes to my owning one since mine is paid for by my oldest daughter and her husband. She used to call me on my home phone and was running up her cell bill. Her husband suggested they combine their services and add me to their plan. This would keep their bill to a minimum and give her unlimited minutes to talk to me. Nice son-in-law!

In my opinion, if my ex-husband cannot pay his child support on a consistent timely basis, he shouldn't be sending gifts that someone else will have to maintain monetarily. A gift such as a watch, book, teddy bear, DVD movie, music CD, or something personal and not too expensive would be appropriate, and this would only seem natural if he were in their lives on a consistent basis. Since he is not, these types of gifts would be empty in value, and the phone would be an inappropriate to say the least.

Another One Bites the Dust

Here we are, the end of the month, and still no child support. Hmmm ... can we say repeat performance? What's different about this month from the others? Why is it what the ex always seems to miss a payment just about the time I am getting back on some sort of footing financially? Who the heck knows! I could be jumping the gun here a bit, after all I won't really know he has missed the month completely until I check my account next week. Sometimes when he pays it on or near the end of a month, it won't show up in my account until about 7 to 10 days later. So I'll wait to sing that ever popular tune ... "another one bites the dust, and another one's gone, another one's gone, another one bites the dust" bump, bump, bump, dadada da da!

Yeah :/

PS It's a good thing we got our Christmas bonus early on November 1st, it paid the rent, so "Merry Christmas" and thank goodness we have all our needs met this month in spite of the ex's absent behavior! Tomorrow is a new day :)

The Hardest Part: Waiting for Results

Mom & Dad will head to Chapel Hill this week to see the head of oncology about the discovery of a mass on her ovary. I'm not sure if they will know that day, or if she will have to wait for any test results to come in. Either way, having to wait to know what this mass is and what will come next is the hardest part of the process. It doesn't make it any easier that she was diagnosed with cancer 7 years ago and underwent radical surgery and radiation treatment. Since that time she has remained cancer free and all of us are believing for the best outcome. She has been the most remarkable woman through all of this and we are all thankful to still have her with us! Thank you for your positive vibes, thoughts and prayers for her continued good health; updates to follow after the appointment on Thursday.

Read how the discovery was made on: Request for Positive Thoughts & Prayers

After the first visit to Chapel Hill: Update: Request for Positive Thoughts & Prayers