Trustee Day

Matthew and I did something today we never expected. Went for our court hearing in Bankruptcy Court with the Trustee. The representative from our attorney starts out by telling us we have "the most difficult Trustee in the Court". Yippee.

She was quite the interesting woman, our Trustee. She started about mumbling to herself (but, of course loud enough for everyone in the room to hear) how she hates this room, there are not enough outlets (for her laptop, voice recorder, etc.), that she doesn't know where any of the paperwork in this room is located "but it's up here somewhere and I am not going to pass it out to you".

Lovely, she's pissed and no one has even started.

Essentially we are in a run down, HOT, crowded room in the Russell Federal Building in downtown Atlanta. There are 19 people in a room about the size of our kitchen and family room combined. Everyone looks nervous (except for the obvious lawyer types).

Not quite sure why the Trustee did this - but when she called each individual up to her table, she had us put our IDs in a clear page protector to hand to her. I still haven't figured that out. I don't really think it was a "germ" issue because we were all touching the page protector and passing it back forth. That still puzzles me.

We listened to 2 others before us. The first man had 3 children, an older child in college and 2 twin special needs sons. He had the income in the family - a failed Internet support business and a house in foreclosure. The Trustee grilled him! I felt terrible for him. For me, who works in health care and is terrified to speak about anything outside of my office for fear of violating HIPPA laws, this felt like a terrible breach of privacy. It is none of my business, that he has 2 failed loans from his mother, that his twin sons have $700 / month in medical expenses, that he is in his home until he is evicted, and it goes on. He actually could not close his case today and had to be rescheduled until late June. I can't imagine going through this more than once.

The next guy was just as sad. A young father, lost his job in 2008, had his home foreclosed in 2009, the 2nd mortgage company was suing him so he had to file bankruptcy. His attorney was the stereotype of every attorney that you hate. Matthew and I both had a hard time staying in the same room with him. He "knew" everyone - brought "candy bars" for another Trustee in another room. Jokes with all the people sitting in the room. Explained to us how bringing candy to the other Trustee was not "bribery, it was just smart". Ewwwwwww.

Next was our turn. The Trustee starts out by reminding our attorney representative that she has told "Mr. Salata that he needs submit paperwork with full names and she hopes that she would not have to remind again" - great - she doesn't even like our attorney. But, in light of the previous 2 and the "irritable" mood of our Trustee - she let us off light. She even smiled at Matthew once! Our attorney representative, Susan G. did a great job and even made me feel more prepared. Matthew said "she was nice, but wasn't going to take any crap". I think that sums it up pretty well.

I think it is done. We should have our final paperwork of discharge July 27, 2010 - which Susan (the attorney rep for us) told us we should receive at some point in August.

It took me hours to settle. I don't think I have had a full night's sleep since Sunday night. I was getting increasingly irritable at work - I know they are glad to have a break from me today. I still feel a little anxious, hopefully that continues to improve.

I am glad that Jacob and Layne were home last night. I missed them. Not sure Joshua missed them so much, though. He was a little irritable after they got home "Jacob that's my spot", "Layne mooove", "Nooooo, that is mine". He really did like being King of the House. At one point on Wednesday evening Joshua was sitting in the den watching TV while I was doing some work on the computer. Matthew was putting away the dishes in the dishwasher. Testing out his new ability to have his needs met immediately, he yells from the couch

(Joshua) "Dad, I need a snack."

(Dad) "what kind of snack, food snack or drink snack?"

(Joshua) "Just bring me a snack, I don't care!" (translation "just do what I say, I am in charge now")

Matthew and the kids are on their way to Louisville. I will miss them. I can't believe it will be almost 3 weeks without Layne around here. She asked last night why Aunt Melanie gets to stay home and I don't. That was hard to answer - I only came up with the non-committal Mom answer "that's just the way it is".

Okay - we have been dealing with creditors, lawsuits, process servers, multiple collection calls daily for 9 months now. Hopefully it won't take 9 months for me to get rid of some of the stress.

Thank you family for your support.

Jennifer

Just 1 Kid

It has been very interesting this week with Joshua around the house. Layne and Jacob went with Grandma and Papa Jack to Knoxville, then Pikeville, then Knoxville, then home sometime tomorrow on Thursday.

I can't believe everyone got to see baby Bailey but me. I will hopefully get some pictures from someone and I know I will get stories from Layne.

It has been very calm with just Joshua. He is loving it. He gets a little sad around bed time and doesn't want to go to bed without Jacob - but otherwise he is doing great. Tonight he tried to boss us around a little to see just how "in charge" he was. It worked for a little bit.

He and Matthew played games on Nick Jr. with Dora. Had a great time. He loves figuring things out.

I have been a nervous wreck since Sunday night. Haven't slept well at all this week. We go to court on Friday. I am so afraid that they will find something wrong and we won't be able to file after all. I am very irritable and distracted right now. Probably a good thing that I only have Joshua around the house.

Long Saturday

Well, the women stayed home this weekend, they were supposed to go camping with the Girl Scouts, but the troop decided to cancel because of the bad weather. So for the first time in a long time we were one big happy family cooped up in the house while the rain and thunderstorms rolled through. All three were a bit rambunctious, but were pretty decent for being stuck in the house all day. We went and got movies yesterday in anticipation of the weather...we'd watched Jacob's and Layne's by 10am and Joshua's by early afternoon. Yes, the tv was a blessing today. All three were very good about taking turns watching the other's show. Every half hour we cycled through any number of kids shows. It wasn't until the end of the evening when they rediscovered their halloween costumes from last year. They came downstairs just laughing and Jennifer asks me where was this idea earlier in the day. They had a really good time playing in the costumes. Joshua wore the race car driver and would just walk around going VRROOM, VROOOM, cranking that pretend steering wheel over. Jacob was the soldier and Layne the cop. Then Josh decided to take his costume off and parade around in his underwear, but still wielding some weapons, and wearing the conductor cap. He looked like a new member of the Village People. It was good to be together, hopefully we get better weather tomorrow.

Cub Scout Camp Out

Jacob's entire existence in cub scouts has been to go camping, and we got to go this past weekend. It was a long drive up to the site, a couple miles shy of North Carolina. We had great weather, a bit chilly during the night and early morning, but very pleasant through out the day.
This was my first time camping too, so I didn't know what to expect myself. In my head we were gonna have a long mile or two hike from the car to the camp site. We'd have to find the most level spot we could to set up the tent. Our bathroom would be the great outdoors. There would be no water except what we brought. I guess I'd been watching the Military Channel too much, I really thought we'd be roughing it. The camp site was just feet from the parking area, so that was easy. We had a wood platform to set the tent on. A thank you to Melanie for the tent, and lots of the campers were jealous of our small easy to setup tent instead of their behemoths. There was running water, and we had a bathroom. Plus the cub scout pack has a huge trailer that hauls all of this gear to make for an easy camp out. They had portable stoves and huge drink coolers. For dinner we had roast beef in gravy, rice and green beans, plus a salad. I thought we'd be cooking a hot dog over an open fire. Then the breakfast was waffles and sausage or cereal and hot chocolate to drink. The food was actually very good. Jack let us use two of his pocket knives and Jacob whittled a point on a couple of sticks to roast his marshmallows. He was quite proud of himself for this one and he did a nice job of being safe.

One of the big things on this trip was that the scouts all got to make a rocket and have the rocket group launch it. This event was really neat. Jacob was very proud of his rocket and we can actually launch it again. The rockets went about 100-200 ft and they had a streamer to act as the parachute. When all the rockets had launched all the kids got to go in the field and find their rocket. We also had a competitive game of ultimate frisbee, the adults were very into it, but it remained cordial, but a tad intense. It was fun to get out and really run though, and my back was ok. My heart was pounding, but my back made it through, yeah.
During the campfire in the evening the dens all did skits, our den only had two kids so the den leader and I helped out and were in the skit with the kids. That was pretty fun. Because Jacob joined scouting late he hadn't had his wolf ceremony. So I got to paint his face in front of all the people at the camp out and stand with him when he was recognized as having passed the wolf stage. Jacob loved the paint on his face. He wanted me to paint his face again when we got home so his mom could see. That was a big deal to Jacob.
We were both pretty tired the next day, the cool night and all the activities made for a sleepy day on Sunday. We had a great time and are both ready to go again.

Back to Wonderful Wednesdays

We made it to Wednesday night dinner. Well - everyone but me was on time. I got there about 6:00 p.m. But had time to visit with the kids before they went off to choir practice. They were excited that Aunt Louise was there with us tonight.

It was good to see the Gilberts. It had been awhile since I saw Wendy - she seems to be doing good.

Didn't make it to the attorney this morning. New plan is to go tomorrow, on Thursday, at 4:00 p.m.

Had a very busy day at work. Lots of issues with Dr. Flamini out and they all came today.

Jacob only had some occasional green specks of paint left today from the Cub Scout ceremony last night. He is still very proud.

Last day today of CRCT testing. Jacob and Layne seem to feel pretty good about it.

Joshua is getting more settled in to our routine.

Sillybandz are still all the rage here. Took Layne and Jacob with me to Walgreen's tonight when I needed a prescription so they could check and see if they had any sets they didn't have - and of course, they did. But - it sounds like school has finally had it with the trading and issues - and they won't be able to have them at school after this week.

So how many days are we down to now????

Obviously this is a different year for us than last year. Definitely have our time and thoughts elsewhere.

We have been busy.

Matthew and Jacob went camping this past weekend with his Cub Scout troop. Jacob complains - and then always has fun and is very excited about everything he does at Scouts. Matthew was exhausted (I know how he feels).

Layne and I go camping this weekend with her Girl Scout troop. Sounds like we will have 10 girls and 4 adults. We will leave early Saturday morning and come home Sunday late afternoon. My sister Melanie will appreciate this - one of our badges is "Mudpies" we are going on a nature hike through the swamp / mud. Hated when I was 8 years old - not sure if I will like it much more at age 42 years. And yes - I know I need to put on a happy face with the girls in the troop. Uggh!

Busy week.

Monday - Layne had soccer practice. Matthew took the boys also so I could run to Costco on my way for a baby shower at work on Tuesday.

Tuesday - Jacob had his Scout Pack Meeting. He had his ceremony tonight for moving up next year a grade level. They painted his face. He was pretty proud of it. He doesn't want to wash his face and wants to go to school like that tomorrow. Kind of looks like war paint - not sure how well that will go over. Kind of hoping it rubs off in bed tonight. Jacob and Layne have CRCT testing today. They don't seem to be as stressed this year.

Wednesday - Matthew and I will meet with the attorney in the morning and sign our paperwork for Bankruptcy. After all the ups and downs - I have little faith until it is a done deal. But, we are another step closer - and I need to look at that as a good thing. We have Wednesday night dinner at church and the kids have choir practice. This will be Joshua's last practice before his Choir Concert next Wednesday. Tomorrow is the last day of CRCT testing for Jacob and Layne - Yeah!

Thursday - I have a 6:30 a.m. meeting and a long day at work with Dr. Flamini being out of the country for the week. We will get to go have dinner at my parent's house on Thursday night and have fun and get to visit some more with Aunt Louise who is visiting this week.

Friday - I have to go to Costco again and then our van is the Camping Girl Scout supply van. So I get to go to Miss Gretchen and Miss Dawn's house to pack the van.

Saturday - Layne and I leave at 8:00 a.m. The boys are on their own.

Will post a pic later - Matthew says that Wendy took pictures tonight of Jacob in the Cub Scout ceremony.

April Fools Day

No, we haven't posted in a real long time. Just haven't had the motivation, too distracted with other things going on, sorry. Uhh, what to write...kids are asleep (I think, at the very least they're quiet). Working on some laundry, always working on some laundry. At least it's sheets and blankets, so that means we are moderately caught up on the clothes.

Being April first Layne was fooling me all evening. "Hay Dad, I'm done brushing my teeth...April fools"... hey Dad I'm all clean...April fools, and they just went on. She was having a great time with it.

Both Jacob and Layne had strep earlier in the week. Layne would come home and just sit, or lay down on the couch, so it was obvious she really wasn't feeling well. Then Jacob one day after Layne went to the doctor, went to the school nurse not feeling well. Both are taking their medicine like champs and feeling better.

Jack and Judy took all three to the zoo on Wednesday, and they all had a wonderful time. I think that was our last trip to the zoo for a while, so glad it was such a hit.

Uh, what else since the last post. Took both cars into the shop, just the maintenance stuff, but, oh, they needed more than maintenance. Both are back in good shape and ready for a while longer (knock on that proverbial wood). Reminds me, gotta get the tags on the van renewed too.

Let's see...oh, well more like, uugghh....depression, many reasons to have it, but us UK fans were really feeling it this past week. Just awful the way they played, not so much played as shot the ball. Man, they couldn't have hit water if they fell out of a boat. I knew they'd have a bad game, just not that bad against such a hot team. Looks like the entire starting line will go pro, so coach Cal better reload and learn to coach a half court offense, and recruit someone that can shoot a consistent three. Alright I'll leave it at that.