Subaru-gate

A couple weeks ago, our neighbor let us know that someone had driven by our house one day and taken pictures. Said it looked verrrrry suspicious.

We talked about it a bit, but really, anyone can take pictures of anyone's house, so I didn't really care and wasn't concerned, although I did mention to my man "would your ex have any reason to have someone take pictures of our house?" None that we could come up with, but that didn't really mean much; she has no logical reason for many of the things she does (unless you include the logic that it could benefit her in some way, which is classic narcissist, which she is).

Well, two days ago, we found out my hunch was right - she had obtained pictures of our house. And, as I just mentioned, it was to try to benefit herself. It was because she was taking my man to court (yes, again. I could write a book).

Close to the end of her questioning of him, this went down:
She asked him about what kind of vehicle he drives. He told her a 2008 Dodge Caravan.

Then she asked what vehicle I drive, and the judge told him he didn't have to answer that question.

So she tried another approach, asking if there was a 2011 Subaru Legacy sitting in our driveway.

Again the judge told him he didn't have to answer the question.

So in a final, desperate attempt at...something...she turns to the judge and says something like, "Your Honor, he once said he had to sell his 2011 Subaru Legacy because he couldn't afford it. The 2011 Subaru Legacy is sitting in his driveway."

Oh, the horror! 

Whatever.
I mean, she can do whatever she wants. It's no skin off my back if she wants to continue to make our lives her life. I mostly feel sorry for her; she left him, he's moved on, and she evidently spends a lot of her time checking up on our amazing life. What she doesn't realize is how many facts she gets wrong.

Case in point: the car. What she obviously doesn't know is that the Subaru is MINE. He sold it to me long (like, a year) before we were even engaged. I'm on the title. I assumed the loan and I pay the loan. That makes the car that's effing parked in my driveway my car.

But perhaps, if she brings something like that up, even if it's incorrect, it makes her look like she's found out something so clandestine about my man that maybe the judge will say, "Well, if that's the case, Ma'am, how much would you like me to award you? Any amount is fine, really."

What also came out shortly after she tried to create Subaru-gate was a string of questions about vacations he's (we've) taken. She happened to know where, some of which made sense (we'd gone to MI for his nephew's graduation. One of my man's aunts was there, and she and the big B are/used to be besties), and some of which didn't (our trip to Puerto Rico. Is she stalking Facebook? Is she checking something using his social? Who cares, but you get the point).   

Of course, she didn't bring up her vacations. For instance, there was one recently that was so important to her that when her daughter's scheduled flight out of FL on a Wednesday was cancelled, and couldn't be rescheduled until the following Monday, she left the 9 year old with a babysitter for five days and took off on her own vacation. But let's not mention that. That would make it look like she also takes vacations, and we wouldn't want anyone to think that! Not when she's trying to prove vacations are wrong! 

She also tried to bring up how long we've been living together (she got that wrong by almost a year), how much my mortgage is (somebody really should explain to her that my mortgage has nothing to do with her child support), and was planning to get around to mentioning house renovations (a downed fence probably also showed up on the pictures), but the judge simply could not take any more and cut her off. (For the record, if she happens to know of the existence of this blog and is reading this, I received a settlement from my title company, who didn't do the job they were paid to do when I bought the place, and that's where the renovation money came from. Not your ex-husband's-that-you-think-should-be-yours paycheck).

Speaking of paychecks, of course it was mentioned in court what she makes a month. It's about four times what I make a month as a teacher! Yet she continually takes my man to court for more money "so she can support herself and her daughter." Damn. If I made that much, I could help support someone else's kid! Just goes to show the greed in some people.

I make so.much.less. Yet I can pay my bills, afford groceries, make payments on a car and house, and still have money to occasionally take vacations, eat out, buy new clothes and take care of my two children. She, on her court documents, has claimed poverty. Overwhelming evidence that I know how to manage money exponentially better than she does notwithstanding, please, can I experience poverty that's four times more than what I'm living on now? Maybe I could afford a different car. One that she would approve of the next time she decides to spy on us.

Tess

We jokingly named her Tesla, because I told Ariel that would be the only way he would get one. But really, she was just our adorable little Tess.

We had her for almost exactly two years.

She did not live nearly as long as she should have.

A few Friday afternoons ago she ran across the street to see the neighbor's house, something she'd done a hundred times. But our neighbor was down the hill. So, not finding her, Tess turned around to come back to me. The guy in the vehicle didn't see her running down the steps. Probably, in fact, had no idea what he'd hit.

She died instantly.
And we miss her desperately.

It's amazing how some pets become such a part of every part of our lives. Now, at night when I get up to go to the bathroom, no one follows me. There is no one to lick clean the tuna cans and yogurt cups. Every morning I will still roll up the shade at the front window, but now there is not really a need to - there is no puppy there to look out at the road, awaiting our return in the afternoons.

She died doing what she loved: running outside. She literally did not know what hit her, and for that I am so grateful. She didn't even make a sound when it happened. I am also so grateful that she didn't suffer. I am having a hard enough time getting the image of the incident out of my mind without the added horror of seeing her die in pain.

Thankfully, too, although I saw it coming and saw it happen, she was on the opposite side of the car from me, so I didn't see TOO much.

I will also probably never forget the absolute devastated reaction of my youngest, who was home with me at the time, when I told him.

She was my baby girl. I'd been home with her the first three months of her life and did most of her training. And she adored me.

She was brilliant. She knew the difference between, "Bring me your rope," and "Bring me your ball." She knew how to "Go to bed," and wait, drooling, staring at her food, until I told her it was "chow time."

But unfortunately, she didn't know what "No!" meant when I was screaming at her, trying to get her to stop running down the neighbor's stairs.


She is missed.