Anatomy of a never-ending child custody case~

*Warning some words in video maybe inappropriate for children*

I wrote the below email yesterday and then emailed it out to a few politicians in Illinois.

See the list at the bottom, a few of the addresses went through their personal web sites.

It seems that luck has been very evasive for everyone.  I would hope for some golden fairy dust to end all dismal grey, insanity dust that seems to be floating around.

Today, I am debating how to make some cash to pay my taxes.  I would love to get a job writing, or just getting paid to do any type of work.  If you have work for me email me: gerardinebaugh@gmail.com.

Really, not kidding!

This past week has been …interesting. I decided to do a rap-poetry rant on YouTube, (I am stuck to what else to do) its  aimed at my step-daughters biological mother.  I use the word frackin so it is not for little ones.

Here is the email.

“Help! My husband has been going to court for eleven years, at theMcHenry country courthouse in Woodstock Illinois, for his daughter, M, who is now sixteen and a junior at Hampshire High School.

Michael’s daughter lived with him and went to kindergarten in Huntley Illinois, until he filed to have paper work written up to insure his fathers’ rights.(2001), at that point Carol ran off and hid  M.  Michael’s lawyer had to get an order for Michael to see his daughter.

We were married in 2002 and he moved in with me in Hampshire Illinois, Kane County.

Michael has  had full custody since spring of (2006).  Michael got hurt in car (not his fault) accident in 2004. Then he got SSD in 2006, and the back child support was given to her mother, at that point, Carol dropped M off at our door.  She tried to control the SSD child support money and threatened to take M away if we told anyone she lived here, Michael ignored her and we reported that she lived with us.  

We have been living a nightmare with the courts and with, Carol Momani.  She gets away with everything.  She is fantastic at lying.  She has tossed garbage at us, lied to have us arrested, threatened our lives, sicced  her many boyfriends on us. Her family members have tried to damage our property and driveway. She won’t talk to us, she screams and yells and threatens.  She got married last year and her new husband doesn’t want to drive.

The reason I am writing this is that our lawyer messed up last week and signed it Without Michael’s permission, an order written up by Carol’s lawyer, and the judge signed it.

Michael sent his lawyer an email last October, “Carol O’Shaughnessy is as of today $10,656.00 behind in her court ordered child support.”… “I reported her to DHS in mid-September and the day I left the message for you I had received a letter informing me that Carol’s wages will begin being garnished as per the current court order.”
My husband has been in touch with DHS, so signing anything to reduce her back child support is ridiculous.

The court order (01-FA-23) signed last week cut her back child support nearly in half. WHY!!

My husband who is disabled and only able to drive locally (unless he has a seizure, which he did from the stress from this past week. ) was ordered , by that new judge to drive M to a half-way point. He can’t drive at all. He has a doctor’s appointment on the 23^rd of October, so he doesn’t have paper work to back him up. But, it is in the court file, because the last judge tossed this out ‘Michael having to drive’, due to his health issues.

My husband  tried to talk to Carol telling her that this was a very dangerous situation, she told him she didn’t care. She also got on the phone with my stepdaughter and laughed telling M that she couldn’t wait to get Michael thrown in jail.

How could this have happened?   This is unbelievable to me, that a judge would order a disabled man to drive for an able body person.  

Whoa, I just got a letter from the county!!  Literally, a knock on the door and the mail person stood there with a letter from the county!

 Kane county doesn’t take payments on taxes!! I am behind on the second payment.  I just got a letter saying that my taxes are being sold- we cannot even make payments in Kane County.  Kane County doesn’t take payments! I emailed Kane County and got response ‘not my job’  I finally got to the right department and was told they don’t take payments. Really, in this economy you don’t take payments…

WTH!

My husband and I are both disabled. We try, and try and keep getting kicked in the teeth by people who lie and cheat. 

I am writing to you because I have no idea how to stop this from happening, so I wrote this and sent it out.

Judge James S. Cou..?  if he read the file how could he have signed such an order?

 

Thank you for your help,”

Sent to:

Durbin

http://durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/footer-contact?p=contact

Tim Schmitz,  Illinois State Representative

info@timschmitz.org

Jack Franks-  State Representative

jackfranks@franks4illinois.com

Chris Lauzen,  25th, State Senator

admin@lauzen.com

Timothy L. Schmitz, 49th, State Representative

info@timschmitz.org

Richard J. Durbin, US Senator

www.durbin.senate.gov-sent

Pat Quinn, Governor

governor@illinois.gov

Sheila Simon, Lieutenant Governor

http://www2.illinois.gov/ltgov/pages/contactus.aspx  sent

Lisa Madigan, Attorney General

attorney_general@atg.state.il.us

Jesse White, Secretary of State

JesseWhite@ilsos.net

Dan Rutherford, Treasurer

webmaster@treasurer.state.il.us

Congressman Randy Hultgren  …http://hultgren.house.gov/contact-us/

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Time to say goodbye to Uriah.

The sun slipped behind a dark cloud, and for a moment I felt
the gentle rain cry down.  I closed my
eyes and listened to the large droplets patter across the dried leaves.   I
opened my eyes and looked to the Bog Willows and four year old Maples whose
leaves were a deep gold and red.

In my mind I saw as the ghost of time replayed their planting:  Uriah grabbing a sapling running off with a happy bounce, expecting, hoping I would chase him down.  Zeus ran in a circle teasing Uriah with his favorite stuffed toy hanging from his mouth.  Samson barked at the trees keeping real and imagined foes hidden in the trees.

Pain shimmered as reality stopped and slid around me like
the mists that form over the dew laden grass.

Maple leaves clapped in the reappearing blue sky and sunshine,
and a warm breeze drifted past.

I felt the ghosts of
my dogs move through the tall grass.  I heard them panting as they ran, happily barking and playing between the trees, sounds that drifted from my memory into this warm October afternoon.

I fell to my knees as tears streamed down my face.  I stroked  Uriah’s thick fur  gently as he lay panting. He looked up at me then looked away towards the trees. I felt we were both hearing the same echoes.
He drank from his water bowl.  I whispered how happy I was to have known him
and what a good dog he had been.

He didn’t cry. I was the one who moaned as I pulled myself upright, leaning on my cane, he watched with a worried look and tried to stand.

I told Uriah I loved him so much, and it was time to run and
play with Samson and Zeus, and one day we will all walk together again.

I helped him into the house, where he fell asleep and never woke up.

When Uriah died tonight I thought of everyone here, and how much this blog kept me writing. I hope everyone is doing well.

Read Full Post »

Poem for April 16th~ Old Saying In the Mid-West if you don’t like the weather wait a minute!

I couldn’t believe the way the snow came down today, and just last week it was hot, and I mean uncomfortably hot, somewhere near ninety..

I posted this poem for today’s prompt “write a snapshot poem” this afternoon I also took this video with the new camera, – it’s a Nikon.  

Link to poem a day challenge: http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/2011/04/16/2011AprilPADChallengeDay16.aspx

 I used up the Cannon after eight months and the Sony barely made it a month.  I had bought the extended warranty at Best Buy so I was able to try different cameras. So far the Nikon is the best.

Michael is beginning to think cameras don’t’ like me. I keep explaining that some electronics have gremlins in them

I thought I would have trouble with setting up a video, then I found using, Microsoft Live I could fix it and upload it to YouTube

Here’s April 16^th, 2011’s poem..

“Freeze Frame”

by Gerardine Baugh

It is snowing

Uriah runs up to me

His thick coat is covered in water droplets

Looking up, he gives me a doggy grin

Knowing what’s coming I cringe and step back

He begins to shake

That, slow movement

Only his pudgy, furry body can accomplish. 

Where he turns his head one way, and

His body fat slips in the other direction

Water is launched from the ends of his fur

Encompassing him in a shower of reflected light 

I turned my back on him and the wind  

Time stops…

My hair covers my eyes

Snow blasts past me

An invisible serpent writhing as an updraft

Bellowing out my coat it slides up the naked trees.

Gathering up dry leaves from the ground, and

Playing with them around the tree tops

In a millisecond, sound stops

Then, the winds skate back down the trees

Letting go

Raining brown leaves within the white snow

Slipping across the grass, then

Like a playful child, pulls at my legs

Snowflakes hit my face stinging cold

Uriah doesn’t seem to notice the wind, or the cold snow

Staring expectantly

He whines and nudges at my hand for a treat

Read Full Post »

Finished National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo then I got sick

Hello, everyone! I finished the NaNoWriMo , with 50,163 words.  Articles with writing tips, on the Examiner, totaled out at 9,508 words.

  http://www.examiner.com/writing-in-chicago/day-thirtieth-of-the-national-novel-writing-month-winners-rejoice-at-endings

Add in the thirty videos, and I had a busy month.

 Then I got sick, and posted this video. Cold medicine makes me loopy. 

 

Read Full Post »

Made it to the 15th with National Novel writing month!~ daily video, article and the word count , ouch! is it the 30th yet?

I have been keeping up the word count for the National Novel Writing Month. But,… there is no way I can write a good novel in a month, at least not without a year of editing.

I started out without an idea, storyline or characters.

Then, I decided to use an odd character I drew up a few years back, she was never developed. Problems in my writing are caused by not rounding out characters, or just over thinking them.

I have a different storyline I have been working on and I didn’t want her to take over that universe.

So this one had to tell me who she was, what was her secret and flaw.

To keep her straight in my head, and allow her to move about. I followed what Michael told me, keep your ideas in one universe. I thought that will work! It would keep all my characters, and their reality’s straight.

So this character, -protagonist- is in the same world of a different storyline I am working on.

Once I set her in their world, the words started to flow.

She was not part of my first idea. She has her own problems. I am having fun.

I have no idea on what I will say in the videos beyond the date and word count. The videos last about two to three minutes. On Saturday, I was watching a Doctor Who marathon-well; we went hunting out the Doctor! I think lack of sleep is getting to me. I have to laugh at myself 🙂

This is to let everyone know, I am alive and well-crazy.

I hope everyone is doing great.

Read Full Post »

Beauty in the skies! ~NANoWriMo is everyone pounding the keys?

 Yesterday, started out as a beautiful day, blue skies, white puffy clouds, and a slightly cool breeze. Within a few hours the day changed drastically.

Winds picked up, as the clouds literally touched the ground. The view was magnificent!

 

 As I faced east, the blue sky had disappeared and the sunlight came out of that dense and dark low cloud. I could see its top. A yellowish-gray, making everything look oddly, dirty yellow, like I was wearing yellow tinted sunglasses. 

I took Uriah for a walk, in that defused yellow light

 

When I turned and faced west, the sky was filled with higher, puffy white clouds slipping underneath a beautiful deep blue sky. I turned back and forth so many times I though I would get whiplash.

 

I stood off on the very back of the path, and watched the clouds touch the ground east of me. The rain in that area must have been heavy. Streaks of blue-black clouds raced across the sky, some of them losing the battle to stay air borne, and dropped to the ground in an equally dark curtain of rain.

 

Uriah decided to take a break from sniffing and running between the trees. He stared at my pockets, where I remembered to put his biscuit.   

“Uriah! Look the rain is coming towards us!”

He gave me a goofy grin, and then stared out over the empty corn field.

I watched the dark line of rain marking its path across the plowed field, edging slowly towards us. I heard the pattering sound, before I felt the sharp pieces of ice rain.

Uriah stood up, shook the ice off his coat and started back towards the house. He looked once back at me, as if he were telling me to get moving.

I laughed, and held my hands open to catch the frozen water. “Hey, Uriah! It’s snowing!”

 

 Uriah shook his head at me and looked miffed, as he disappeared into the tree line.

Once again, I am participating in the 2010 National Novel Writing month. I have posted four articles on the Examiner, dealing with writing.  And I will add short videos that will be posted with the articles.

 

I went into this without a plan. I had a character that I created a few years ago. Every so often I try and pull her out, she refused to be involved in any story line, until this year. 

 

If anyone has an idea for a topic or if there is something you want to see. Maybe you’re busy with your own NaNoWriMo writing, that’s great!  Drop me a note, when you’re done.

If you want to, add comments you can do it here, or go at the examiner, or on Youtube. Email is even great. gerardinebaugh@gmail.com

Youtube – http://bit.ly/91BE8d

Examiner- http://exm.nr/cdqOQ3

I shortened the links at this site:  http://bit.ly/?u=&searchButton=Shorten

This was taken with a webcam, my camera is still getting fixed, at least I hope!

Read Full Post »

Charging elephant tractors harvesting Soybeans~ Or, How far can your hose reach?

This past week I watched as a farmer harvest his soybean crop in the neighboring field. I grabbed my camera and took a video as he roared past me, kicking up the usual intense dust storm, which always comes out of a soybean harvest.

 

The grey heavy dust had me coughing and teary eyed, I made a fruitless attempt to blink away the haze and itch behind my eyelids.

As I watched, twigs and rocks spray back onto the shaved off field.  The harvester moved slowly, roaring past me. 

Holding the camera in my right hand I waved with my left and the farmer waved back. I could barely see him between the dust and the darkness inside the cab.

 

Vibrations from the massive John Deere Harvester rippled under my feet. The tractor’s size and close proximity, passing a few feet/meters in front of me- reminded me of a charging elephant in a Tarzan movie.   

 

Add in a sunset and lengthening shadows.  Then toss in a thick, grey swirling dust cloud that quickly encompassed the world. 

 I could feel the hair rise on my neck. This scene had an eerie feel…  

I kept thinking something bad was about to happen.

 

Guess I’ve been watching too many horror movies…? Too close to Halloween..?

 

Uriah kept rolling his eyes and pacing. Finally, he gave up trying to get me to move away from the fence and walked back to the house.  Smart dog!

 

From across the field, on the end of ‘Bob’s’ property, I saw a flicker of light.

 

I headed up on the deck to get a better view.  I saw flames shooting up illuminating an old Oak tree that sat at the backend of his property. Not quite on ‘Bob’s’  land. It belongs to the farmer. 

 

 I haven’t lit a fire for a couple of months.

This summer’s air may have water soaked, but the ground and foliage has been very, very dry.  Dangerously dry!

 

I watched the flames licking at the lower tree branches and then blazed higher. Orange, red and yellow flames reached up into the branches, so bright I could make out each limb.  I was positive that tree was toast! 

 

About fifty feet, to the north, is a cornfield.  A very dry, not yet harvested- cornfield.

 

The farmer’s tractor’s lights glowed white; I noticed a second tractor in that field. I have never seen a soybean field stripped that fast. I wondered, if they were worried that fire?

 

When I couldn’t stand on the deck and breathe, I headed inside.

 

By midnight the air had cleared.

 

The fire was out, it hadn’t spread. (Add sigh of relief here)

Still today I am wondering, “What was that guy thinking- lighting a fire when a field was being harvested?”

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

Read Full Post »

Jack Frost came to visit early!~ or, Did Uriah find bigfoot

Odd, big mushroom

For the second day in a row I stepped outside to frost on the grass, and plants that looked like I stuck them in the freezer, all wilted and mushy.

I had slipped on my sandals and headed out back. 

My toes felt the cold first. With the sun shining brightly the rest of me really wasn’t cold.

Uriah ran on ahead and pointed out the raccoon scat right in the middle of the back path. I was relived when he looked back and me and walked past it, I was not in the mood to give him a bath.

I walked past the odd sounds coming out of the tall grass to my left, Uriah couldn’t help himself. He stopped cocked his head to the right and whined.

“No way! Uriah, keep walking!” I shouted out the command, then turned and continued walking.

I was hoping he would follow. I wasn’t in the mood to run into any wild animals today.

Uriah sneezed at the grass, then trotted after me. He jogged past like a middle aged over weight male, pretending to be in shape. He stopped after about twenty feet, panting and waited for me to catch up.

I tried to avoid the large stones that had been kicked out of the muskrat’s hole.

I walked around a scraggly mulberry tree.

I walked looking at the ground as I passed under the cedar’s low branches.  I could see the odd, large,- I think mushroom- I haven’t look this thing up, yet. It is the size and shape of a large watermelon with the look of an old dried out football. Brownish with a yellowish powder, when I touched it the surface broke easily, similar to a cooked meringue. I found a second one, on the other side of the cedar tree.  I never saw anything like it. Have you?

As I hit the back section of the path, I made the turn to head home. At that point, Uriah disappeared into the trees and started to bark. His bark changed to a scared howling sound. I stopped, worried.  

“Uriah, Come!” I stayed on the path and waited.

I heard him bark.

Still I stayed on the path.

This is the area where Uriah and his brothers had killed a forty pound raccoon when it tried to attack me. His brothers are no longer alive and I know Uriah isn’t strong enough to kill anything bigger than a small rat. 

So I stood my ground and yelled again. “Uriah, Come!” 

He came out of the trees doing a fast jog. I knelt to pet him and he raced right past me. I glanced at the trees. I didn’t see anything coming out, but why wait for it.:-)

By the time my dog slowed up, he had put fifty feet behind him. We both walked side by side quickly, which is unusual for Uriah.

I check him over when we walked into the yard.

Nothing bit him. He seemed fine.

Deer like to hide in those trees. Maybe that’s what he ran into, a momma deer will kick at him and Uriah doesn’t like to be kicked.

Uriah didn’t stop at the there. He took off to the house. Glancing back at me, he crawled under the deck.

I don’t know if you saw my video of the three deer that came to visit. Here it is.

Here’s a link on BigFoot

http://bigfootsightings.org/2009/08/31/bigfoot-in-illinois/

Read Full Post »

Dark and clear night, farmers out in droves!~Or, Look up what is that star constellation?

I am tired, sore and jiggle eyed. Last month I spent my spare time working on the examiner articles, then, my completive streak snuck in and I tried to write some articles for their sponsor, HomeDepot.   I wrote some really bad articles… I have to write about cats, but that will be done slowly.

 I know what I enjoy, and this Blog is what I love to write.

 I still have my change jar in the back of my closet, slowly filling with dollars, for that elusive laptop which will help me write anywhere in the house, or on a jaunt outside. I see that happening by spring.  

I plan on finishing a novel, and submitting some of my writing.-I should get competitive about this.-

I am well, happy and back.

 This evening I was sitting on the couch watching, Julia & Julia, and lost track of time. I had left Uriah outside, in his kennel, and forgot to bring him in when it got dark.  

 I had to turn on the outside lights and then the bathroom light downstairs, the one closest to the dog kennel and the office where this computer is located.  

 I turned on the driveway overhead light as I opened the garage door.  

 It was a clear dark night. The air was cold enough that I saw my breath. Lights were shining out in the cornfields behind the house, near the back path. Farmers were out harvesting crops, trying to outrun the rains.

 Uriah started whining when he heard the door open. He hasn’t been very brave the past few months. When he hears a noise in the dark he would rather stand next to me and growl, than run off barking.

 This past Friday, Michael and I made a pretty good attempt at waterproofing the deck for winter. We never got around to cleaning up, that will be done maybe tomorrow- or not.  Everything is lying around and will need to be stored away for the winter anyway, so I’m in no hurry to straighten up the outside when I can barely stand straight today.

 I stumbled over a board and the hose I had left out.  

 When I got to Uriah, his kennel was lit up due to the glow from the bathroom light. I was very glad I remembered to turn that light on.

 Uriah stuck his nose in his large empty water bowl.  I had moved it to work on the deck and now it was empty.  I pulled it back under the deck where it belonged and felt around in the dark, in the cold damp grass for the end of the hose.

 Uriah stood patiently waiting. As I finished filling up the big water bowl, I spotted in the shadows his small water bowl, still filled to the brim. While Uriah was slurping up water, I looked inside the kennel.  His water bowl in the kennel was still filled.  I laughed and shook my head. Silly dog!

 As I waited for Uriah to relax and roll in the grass; I stared up into the dark night sky, a string of clouds drifted near the eastern horizon. The rest of the sky was clear. Pinpoints of white lights glittered overhead. 

 Have you ever stared upward, with out blinking, so you could see stars beyond the ones that caught your attention? I could do that tonight.   I could see clusters of stars out of the corner of my eye, if I looked straight at them they would blend into the blackness.

 Supposedly, tonight has a waning crescent moon tonight, 29% full. I didn’t see the moon.

 Star gazing has been getting harder to do with the naked eye. With all the lights and pollution our children and grandchildren are loosing out on this simple pleasure.

 Rumbling of farm equipment and the occasional rustling in the garden were the only sounds.  Uriah nosed around in the Blue Spruce next to the garage I let him, I didn’t want to go backing into the brightly lit house, not just yet.

I didn’t get a picture tonight, but here is a video I took last week of a sunrise.

Read Full Post »

Sanosuke and Kaoru love to watch the Purple Martins, doing what Martins do best, catching mosquitoes

Purple Martins are very brave or very stupid, I haven’t figured out which, yet.

Martins will dive bomb anyone that comes out the door.  They have a fit when I’m standing on the back deck. They will swoop and whistle. Nearly hitting me and Uriah! The cats watch from the inside windows and love the attention they’re getting from those beautiful little birds.

I have never seen feathers that matte black, it reminds me of charcoal. I have to admit my camera isn’t able to capture their beauty.

I love having them around. I will overlook their mud nests because they eat their weight in mosquitoes daily.

Purple Martins have nested around my house for years, sometimes with dire consequences. They can build a nest fast; within two hours they can set up home. My first summer in this house, I made a mistake of leaving the garage doors open while I cleaned out the garage. I had no idea they had made a nest on the electric overhead garage door opener. So when I was finished I closed the birds in the garage, accidentally. The only reason I knew they were trapped, was when one of my cats brought a bird into the house and let it go…

Read Full Post »