36. Temporary - Home Sweet Home

I'm sure you are wondering why I haven't written for awhile.  I believe I explained before sometimes I don't want to write because I have to relive the events of the day and it makes me sad.  I have also realized in this "new reality" nothing stays the same from the morning until the night.  Things may be said and change completely within 15 minutes.

In a sane world if I were to write something on Friday and you were to read it on Monday you would think, "Wow, I wonder how she handled that."  In the meantime 20 other things had happened since I wrote the original post.  I'd be trying to explain why the last post no longer mattered.

Anyway, Chris's mom arrived from Australia last night.  Kristin asked me to find somewhere to stay for the two weeks she is here.  Kristin has a four bedroom house and it isn't that she doesn't have the room.  It's just that there is so much turmoil going on right now because of Mark.  It has gotten so bad that they have to unplug their home phone at night.  I don't blame her and Chris one bit for not wanting to subject her to that during her visit.

So, the picture you see above is "my new home" for two weeks.  I cried a lot during the time I was trying to find a place to stay.  It literally took me an entire day to find somewhere that would take my bird.  I originally was going to leave Bailey (my dog) with the kids as I couldn't find a half decent place (sans bed bugs) that would let me bring him.  After a lot of heartache, turmoil, rejection and frustration, I was able to find a place directly across the street from our shop.  In fact, the picture you see above was taken with me standing in All-Safe's parking lot.

The funny thing is that Allan, the owner of the hotel, is one of our customers and I know him.  He was very kind and gave me a discount for staying for two weeks.  I also was able to bring both Bailey and Muffin with me. The room is pretty decent for an old building.  I will give you a little glimpse:

There is also a "Tiki Hut" area for sitting in the back of the building.  I guess all of the guests hang out there at night.  I'm don't know if I will check it out or not.  I didn't last night, because I didn't get into the hotel until after 11.  It's small, but nice and it is quiet.

I went to the new attorney yesterday.  I was told she is a bulldog and that was the truth.  She is very 'matter of a fact' type of lady.  I explained what was going on.  She took me step by step of what she said I needed to do before I file for divorce.  I'll admit it was very overwhelming, but then every day for me right now is.  She asked me to do so many things.  Some of them I don't know how I am supposed to do them by myself.

This is what she said I need to do right away:

1.   Open a new checking account for myself (Done)
2.   Open a new credit card account with my name only (Done)
3.   Close all credit cards that are joint (Done)
4.   Get the deed to the house (Done)
5.   Get the income and expense statements for our two companies All-Safe & 1141 (Done)
6.   Take pictures of house (what he has done to it) (Done)
7.   Get Personal & Corporate Tax Returns (1/2 done)
8.   Get Discover statements for at least the last quarter (They won't give them to me)
9.   Get the gun our of the safe & give to police (can't. Safe is locked. Combo Changed)
10. Find a Realtor where my house is and get comparable sales prices (To Do)
11. Get the Corporate books back from the other attorney (To Do)
12. Print out all of the EBAY Gold Coin posts on his Facebook wall (To Do)
13. Print out Facebook Threats and derogatory messages (To Do)
14. Rent UHaul. Go to house & pack up my stuff (To Do)
15. Rent a storage unit. (waiting for my new credit card)
16. Get all of the gold coins he has ordered and take them (not until we file)

I have been working on what I can when I can.  The problem is I am working every single day.  It is hard to get some of the things done when I cannot leave the shop unattended.

I really do like this attorney. Their law firm is all women.  They are women's advocates.  I really like that.   She said I have reached the "Magic Number" of being married for over 17 years.  She said that means I would get 'permanent alimony' and something like reconstructive alimony - meaning additional payments so I could go back to school.  Of course, this would be based on whether Mark even had the company after all of this.  And, *if* he would pay it.  That's certainly a big *if*.  Lord knows my ex died owing me $55,000 in back child support, which I never saw a dime of.

Anyway, onward & upward.  Tomorrow is a new day.