What a week it's been. Ugh.

Mostly just work crazy. I really only have 3 more weeks of "crazy," which I find hard to believe. It will FLY right by. Then life can resume to "normal"? I can only hope.

Of course, though it's been a rather crappy, crazy, stressful week. YEsterday was AWESOME!

I snuck out for a nice lunch date with dh. Lord knows when our last "date" was. On some level, the kids are getting old enough that we no longer feeel, "OMG, get me out of the house, we need alone time!!!" So it's not like we haven't spent any time together or missed our dates. But, it was still nice to make some quality time together, all the same. Not like I have seen him much, this month.

So, yeah, we had a really nice lunch. Then we went to BM's parent-teacher conference. Since he is all signed up for the after school care now, he just went there, so dh and I could eat lunch and meet with his teacher privately. Worked out well.

I actually almost didn't go, because it has been so busy. I didn't really care that much. Didn't expect any surprises. Teacher communicates plenty so didn't expect any "news." & the last one went so well that I joked that the only direction BM could go, was down. But really, I expected a pretty uneventful meeting. Maybe more of the same. Clearly, dh could handle it alone and fill me in later. But I changed my mind in the end, for whatever reason.

So, we had heard his teacher would teach the next grade up (2nd grade) for next year. I figured odds he'd get him again were slim, though he is one of the best teachers ever and such a perfect fit for BM.

SO, he tells us if we want BM to stay in his class, he can. O.M.G. Sign us up!

The other thing is that BM is very bright and can be a bit of a handful. As his parents, we know that as long as he is mentally challenged, he can be the sweetest angel on earth. & hell, we don't expect that 100% of the time. But, you know, if the teacher told us he was bouncing off the walls, we wouldn't be terribly surprised. So, instead, another perfect report. I don't expect my child to be "perfect," but it pleases me because I know that it is because he is happy. He is exactly where he needs to be, and he gets to stay there another year. I couldn't be happier. I know that if he had the *wrong* teacher, they could tell us our child was hell on wheels and has issues. It's just how it is.

I also didn't think about it until later, but I am just amazed that we have been able to get through such a tough time without affecting the kids too much. I mean the kids little worlds could have been turned upside down with dh's surgery and everything. So I am super happy that we didn't have to turn their worlds upside down and that they seemed to have made it through rather unscathed. I am so grateful for our family stepping in and helping to make a very stressful time a bit of an "Adventure" for the kids.

And score one for frugality. My kids go to public school. Honestly, I would be hard pressed to find a better school for BM. If I truly believed my only options were my "assigned public school" or one of the insane expensive private schools in the area, I doubt I would be so happy today. Dh and I, on the contrary, feel pretty strongly about education and know there are tons of options available. We are just extraordinarily lucky that this school just happens to be walking distance from our home! & chalk another one up to luck - two years with the most awesome teacher ever...

(I do recognize that our expectations are now infinitely high. But, could have worse problems).

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Switching gears to the not so happy...

Dish was never able to come up with a signed contract. BEcause we never signed one. Doh! I thought maybe they would just leave us alone (no - didn't REALLY think it - but it has been a long time since we dropped them).

BUT, the big bad bill arrived yesterday. $50. For breaking an imaginary contract.

I don't know, I could write them a nasty letter, report them to the BBB and fight it a bit. Oh, I will report them to BBB though I don't expect it to amount to a hill of beans. They already have some insane amount of complaints about their business practices.

Dh is a FIGHTER, but he is out. He told me last night he didn't want to DEAL with them any more. I won't write a check ASAP, but I think I will just write the check and be done. I have so many friends who don't understand. Who would fight to the death on these things. & dh generally runs in that category. But considering his recent surgery and all, I told him not to worry about it.

I think what helps is dh calling them in the past and spending hours on the phone with them to remove $50 here and there that were maybe more grey areas. I figured he probably saved us at least $100 that they could have fought more. We tried to fight this one and aren't getting anywhere. Being a glass half full type person, I can look at the big picture and just get over it. They can win this battle, but we have won a few and we would certainly never give them our business EVER AGAIN. Plus I will tell everyone who will listen not to use their service.

Don't get me wrong, it will take a lot of will power to write that check. The pure principle of it. But if it means my dh doesn't have to spend another few hours on the phone dealing with the most frustrating people on earth. Well, HE is worth the $50.

Writing is my strong point so I will write them a nasty letter. Something along the lines about how their service sucked, glad to be rid of them, I don't agree, but I value my health and my perfect credit record too much to deal with this any longer. (I do tell you I Was tempted to ignore the bill if we couldn't reach a resolution. On principle it is probably the best idea. But reality is that we will have to keep fighting and fighting and fighting. Even if it ends up a fight with collections or something. Ugh. I've got MUCH better things to do with my life).

This is just one area I often don't agree with some of my more extreme frugal friends. I just value my happiness and time too much sometimes, to deal with BS like this.

Plus, usually dh is the type to pick every battle. So it kind of works out. I don't remember the last time the 2 of us "gave up" on something like this. Happens once in a while, I suppose. This is the last I ever want to speak about it or think about it, that is for sure! Life moves on.