Oh dear

We were supposed to close on Friday. R had the kiddos, they were ready and excited to move, we were packed, and then…nothing. No closing. And we were told that this is “normal.” Thanks for nothing Waterstone Mortgage. :p I would never recommend that anyone use them…EVER. Our mortgage had not been completed because the underwriter felt “pressured.” Really?!? Because you all have had the information for 4 weeks now! It’s not our fault that the mortgage company did not get the underwriter the information they needed early, but we are the ones who ended up having to suffer and loose an entire weekend to paint and move.

So that changed the weekend a bit. Rather than moving and painting we were suddenly faced with an unplanned weekend. But no matter; dinner out Friday night to soothe everyone’s nerves, soccer on Saturday, then we went to the movies. Girls and I saw “Gnomeo and Juliet.” It was really cute. I highly recommend it. The girls are 11 and probably a little too old for it, but they still enjoyed it. Then we did a bit of shopping while the boy’s finished their movie. Sunday we had to go grocery shopping before breakfast and we got pretty creative in cooking things throughout the day.

Did you know you can make perfectly shaped Tollhouse cookies in a muffin pan? Sure can! Cinnamon rolls from a tube work well in a muffin pan too! Who’d a thunk it?

Then R took all 3 kids to the club to swim and hang by the indoor pool. I stayed home feigning illness and took a nap and read my book. I would have liked to work out and sit in the sauna, but going with the kids means putting my workout plans on hold to watch his kids while he works out. That was not what I was interested in doing. So I stayed home which worked out just fine.

We ended up taking the kids to their Mom’s Sunday night rather than keep them straight through until Tuesday. We just don’t have the room with boxes, etc. So now we are back on waiting to hear from the mortgage company about our new closing time at 4 pm today. Fingers crossed.

N made a curious comment at dinner last night. He said to the girls, “You should go shopping with Jen and she can buy you everything you want.” Curious. I didn’t say anything because I was not real sure what to say. For some reason they have the impression that I am loaded. I know where this impression comes from: their Mother. She is under the impression that I am loaded, which is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar from the truth. But where does she get off talking to them about this?

Doesn’t she understand that I have NO FINANCIAL OBLIGATION TO THESE KIDS AT ALL?? They are her kids and his kids. Not mine. They seem to be under the impression that I have some kind of obligation to buy them things. (Which is one whole blog topic in and of itself!) It makes me wonder if other step-something’s have this feeling too. Do you feel pressured to purchase things for your step-kids? Buy lunch or dinner? Treat them to something? We don’t co-mingle funds, so it’s not like it is “our” money I am spending. So what do you do? I bought the girls headbands when we went shopping. I bought N a movie when we got our new TV setup at Best Buy. In the end it bothers me that they have this expectation that I should buy them things.

Can 11 year olds “work you”? Can you be played by them? Sometimes I wonder.