Has anyone heard from catnip, or know what is going on with her? She is always on the board, and is a loyal supporter. I haven't seen her here in a few weeks, and was wondering how she was doing. If you could fill me in that would be great. Thanks, just being a concerned friend.<P>babstr.

Good Morning, Babstr...yawn, purrrrr.<P>It hasn't been a few weeks, just seems like it. It's just been a few days. But I am glad you missed me, and thanks for asking about me...it feels really good that someone is concerned what has happened.<P>I am in the midst of "answering" the judges's decision on the child support order. This 'rebuttal' is taking days to go through because our attorney can't/won't help us any further as we owe him too much money.<P>The decision came last week and they are mandating that we pay $1,081 per month. That would be just fine if we made $4K per month, but, we don't. David's illness has prevented him from working until just recently. He started his new job last Monday and we are already about $11K in arrears and I don't see us being able to make up that kind of money anytime soon.<P>To protect me, we filed for divorce, too. We are forced by the evil system to divorce. We would NOT have to do this if the court would have just taken the 17% of David's gross, as mandated by law, but, they have this fancy way of calculating the final amount based upon what someone is 'capable' of earning instead of what they are actually earning and it is a travesty of justice to be sure. The 17% grows into 60% on assumptions, suspicions and arbitrary numbers.<P>In addition to trying to play attorney on our appeal to the NY family court, we have filed for divorce and I have been recovering from oral surgery. The tooth waas infected, they had to knock me out, I experienced horrible pain for a week, recovery took too long, I was on antibiotics and went up north to the lake to see my Mom and Aunt with my cousin...we are all sitting on the deck, I am drinking a glass of merlot, never occurred to me that I shouldn't have just one glass of wine on antibiotics....my tongue turned BLACK!!! And it stayed like that for DAYS!!! I looked like a chou chou dog. Oh, it was horrible, scared the hell out of me. It looked awful, but it is finally back to normal.<P>Inbetween my recovery, divorce preparation and appeals, I lurked. I still have more loose ends to tie up but I'll be back soon.<P>I am lurking this morning to keep up and see how you are all doing. Babstr, we need an update from you.<P>Catnip =^^=

Babstr, how are you? Catnip is right we need an update. Catnip - sorry about all your "problems". You should know better than to have alcohol with antibiotics (however, I didn't know it would turn your tongue black)! Would have scared me to death too. I hate it that the law is so screwed up - - - especially when I work in that field. Luckily I work in mostly real estate and corporate matters so I don't have to visually see the injustices on a daily basis. I hate all this for you and I hate how attorneys won't do any work if you owe them money - it makes me sick!!!! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. If I win the lottery - I'll contact you so we can run for the border!! ha

Catnip,<P>You have had your hands full. I guess it hasn't been that long. I am just so used to seeing you on here, that when your gone for a little while it seems longer. Plus I have been out of town off and on the last three weeks, so that is probably why I was thinking weeks. <P>I don't know what to say to you about your crappy deal with the child support. I tell my mom all the time, now I see why some men run for the hills when it comes to paying. I hope you have better luck on the appeal. How long will it take to get the divorce? Hopefully that will be taken care of before the appeal, and maybe that will help. <P>I didn't know your tongue could turn colors like that. I haven't had that happen before, I know for a fact I have had a drink when on antibiotics. Maybe it was just the right mixture. Hope you are feeling better. <P>I can't believe your lawyer. It makes me sick. I can't believe how much lawyers want up front, that is why we can't even hire one. I had one lawyer say it wouldn't cost more than one thousand, but he wanted $750 for his retainer. Of course we didn't have that, so here we are no lawyer. I feel for you, even though you need one even more right now. Well get some rest, and try to heal up. I am sure the stress isn't helping with the healing process. Talk to you soon. Your in my prayers.<P>babstr.<P>