George called Crazy back and said that Miss B is welcome to come spend the weekend with us. And while she is here we will take her shopping for some school clothes.

Crazy’s response? “Well, then we’ll just have to go to court.”

A little background information- a few years ago George and Crazy went to court to have child support stopped. Well, not actually stopped, just no longer run through the court system. Crazy and George came up with their own agreed upon amount for child support. Each year George gives Crazy X amount of dollars in one check. Which she then blows in about a month. Actually, I don’t know that- it’s just an assumption on my part.

Anyways, things were going fine. Then this year George decided to start his own business and talked to Crazy before leaving his secure job to try out this new venture. He told her he didn’t know how things were going to go and wanted to know if she would be agreeable about taking less money for her yearly payment. She agreed to half of the previous agreed upon amount. It was also stated that if things were going well with George’s new business that he would be happy to help out as much as he could.

How has the new business been going? Okay- but certainly not great. We don’t have an extra $300 right now to give her for school clothes. Even if we had it, $300 is way too much.

Honestly- in the past when I was working I used to spend a lot of money on Miss B for her back to school clothes. I’m sure I spent more than $300 some years. But, after I became a stay at home mom we didn’t have that extra money to spend on school clothes. And since Miss B has not grown in the last year- she’s 16, and all of her clothes from last year still fit her, I don’t see any reason to spend $300 on back to school clothes.

I called Crazy to try to talk to her about keeping things out of the court system. Sometimes her and I can talk and sort things out. I emailed her as well. But she isn’t answering me.

So the other day Crazy called and told George that she wanted $300 to take Miss B shopping for school clothes.

Really? $300 for school clothes.

I have two problems with that- first of all- we have always taken Miss B shopping for school clothes and bought her plenty of stuff. This year, Crazy is demanding that George give her the money because they are taking it on a weekend trip to do school shopping. Miss B hasn’t been to our house since Mother’s Day weekend- in May. So we were hoping that she would be spending a weekend with us to do some school clothes shopping.

My second problem- If we are only paying for half of her new clothes, that means that Crazy plans to spend $600 on back to school clothes. That’s a little too much in my opinion. And really, I think that Crazy’s actual plan is for us to pay for all of the back to school clothes.

I met George when I was 17.  I was a senior in high school and he worked nearby at a popular lunch hang out.  One day I went in with my friends to eat lunch there and met George.  And then I went back the next day and the day after.

Soon we were hanging out on the weekends.  Always with friends- his friends and my friends.  When I graduated from high school I was afraid that things were going to change and that I wouldn’t get to see him anymore.  But actually we started spending more and more time together.  We were only friends at the beginning.  I really wanted to be more than friends and it drove me crazy that he wouldn’t make the first move.  Looking back I am thankful that was how it happened.  We took the time to get to know each other and to spend a lot of time with each other talking and learning a lot about each other.  Eventually he did make the first move but looking back I am glad he waited until we had some time to really get to know each other.

Oh yes, I have issues with my in-laws.  Mostly my MIL because my FIL pretty much keeps to himself.

When George and I first started dating his mother and I talked quite a bit.  She was always very nice to me.  After we got married things continued that way.  We talked on the phone pretty often and things seemed to be okay.  She would occasionally get upset with me if she called to talk and I was busy at the time and couldn’t spend hours on the phone, but for the most part things between us were good.

I don’t really know when things changed.  The event that sticks out most in my mind is when we were all planning to attend a family reunion.  There was some sort of arguement between George and my MIL and we were un-invited to the reunion.  Things went downhill quickly.  We didn’t talk to for several months.

We later moved for George’s job and I guess that made the strain even worse.  I had hoped that once Peanut was born we would be able to be close since I assumed my MIL would want to be a big part of Peanut’s life.  Which turned out to not be quite the case. 

We live a few hours away but we visit often.  We always stay at my parents house when we visit- they have plenty of room for us.  George and I get our own room and Peanut gets her own room.  It’s easy and it works out well for us.  We always make arrangements to visit my MIL and FIL while we are in town though.  But, more than half of the time my in-laws cancel our plans at the last minute.  Peanut doesn’t really know them very well because they seem to want to close us out of their lives.

I guess because I came from a very close family it’s hard for me to understand.  We were always very close to all of our extended family.  I always considered my cousins to be some of my closest friends.  I want this very much for Peanut- to have a large family network.  I am tired of trying to force a relationship on my in-laws though.  If they don’t want to be a big part of her life, then that is their choice.