See You in the Funny Papers

Things just keep going from bad to worse around here. For starters, we had an appliance repairman come in yesterday to fix a few things. The arm on the refrigerator’s ice maker broke off about a year ago, which means that it was constantly making ice. We had to empty the tray twice a day.

The repairman replaced the arm, but, when I checked this morning, I saw that it’s still not working properly. The guy had warned that this might happen, and, if it did, the whole icemaker would need to be replaced. Wonderful.

Next on the list was the dryer, which has been making a loud noise for quite a while. Unfortunately, Mr. Repairman didn’t have the necessary part, and will have to come back this afternoon. Finally, he took a look at the sink in the upstairs bathroom to see if he could stop the drip. He couldn’t, and will bring a washer when he comes back today. If that doesn’t work, the faucet will have to be replaced, along with the refrigerator’s ice maker. Cha ching.

To top things off, I stepped on a rake and got smacked in the face hard enough to break my glasses (and bruise my brow bone). I thought those things only happened in cartoons, but this Youtube clip (along with my own mishap) proves otherwise.

One good thing happened yesterday. I received a call from a nurse at the surgical center as a follow-up to the procedure I had on Friday. I told her I’m afraid to go back for the next procedure because it was such a horrible experience. I remarked that they should put people out for these things. She said that they used to, but insurance companies won’t pay for it anymore. Bastards. I should have known.

She went on to say that some patients opt to pay for the anesthesia themselves, and advised me to ask about it when I called the doctor’s office to schedule the next series of injections. I did that as soon as I got off the phone with the nurse, and was told that the anesthesia costs $137. I would gladly pay that.

However, I might not have to. The woman I was talking to said that the Worker’s Comp carrier should cover it it, and a call for authorization will be placed. Why didn’t somebody tell me about this before? Oh well, at least I won’t have to suffer through that mind-numbing pain again, provided the Comp carrier agrees to pay for the anesthesia, that is.

Song of the Day: Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar

The Root of All Evil

The Ex is once again reminding me of why he’s The Ex. A few days ago, I received an email from him informing me of a couple of issues related to our daughters.

1. He is discontinuing child support payments for Rebecca because she is now 21 years old.
2. When Leigh’s lease ends in May, she will be living with her father until she leaves for SUNY Delhi in the fall.

For the record - the only reason she is doing that is because he agreed to take her cat. I got stuck with her dog, and will not add a diabetic cat to my list of responsibilities and expenses.

Anyway, The Ex has advised me that he will be eligible for child support from me when Leigh moves in with him.

A while ago, I did some research on child support and emancipation guidelines. I found that :

People frequently agree in their separation agreement that when a child is enrolled in a full time college and is pursuing an undergraduate degree, the age of emancipation is 22 years or the completion of four years of college, whichever comes first.

Rebecca missed being in the high school graduating class of 2004 because her birthday fell five days after the cut off date. This means that she will be older than most students in her graduating class at college, so it would have been helpful to have known about the above item before now. Unfortunately, when the terms of the divorce were agreed upon, my attorney failed to point out to me that it was possible to make a provision for changing the age of emancipation from 21 to 22. Therefore, I have no choice but to agree to 21 being the age of emancipation in this case.

On the other hand, the following condition of emancipation is not debatable:

Residence at a boarding school, camp or college is not an emancipation event.

This is something else I was not previously aware of. It means that I was due child support while Rebecca was away at SUNY Albany. I did not receive that support.

Furthermore, there was a significant amount of time when both girls were living with me. However, because I knew that The Ex was having financial difficulty, I let him make child support payments for only one child. Between that and the support I was supposed to receive while Rebecca was in Albany, we are talking about a sizable chunk of change.

Of course, it is not convenient for him to bear those things in mind at present.

As far as I’m concerned, he can deduct child support for Leigh from what he owes me.

Song of the Day: Money  by Pink Floyd