A cherry, with a bow, sprinkles and the icing on the cake

When you hear the saying 'icing on the cake', most of the time it means good things. The one last thing that ties it all together. Ive taken it a step further, added sprinkles, a cherry and a bow. But in my case, this is not an endearing statement.

Going back a few days, weeks or even months would be more than sufficient to tell my 'icing on the cake' story. But, just because today has been one of those days, we are going to go back a few years and get you up to speed.

I dont talk about my ex too much, or our relationship, or our breakup. But most people, people that Im close to at least, know the history. We were together for 3 years or so. And from the beginning, it was far from a fairy tale. But I went about life. I had 2 amazing kids that kept me going. My ex is an extreme alcoholic. But, for the most part, it didnt affect me. We didnt spend much time together. I lived in the house, and he...well, he lived in the garage. Yes. You read that right. The garage. We lived 2 seperate lives. It seemed to work for us for a long time. But somewhere in our relationship, things turned angry. I was miserable. He was mad. And life just got out of control. In the middle of what was supposed to be my happily ever after, I literally had a nervous breakdown. And it was all downhill from there. 6 months later, one night while I was at work, this man that I supposedly loved, decided that he was going to let his alcohol act for him, and he hurt my baby girl. And that was the end of that. I knew leaving him was the right thing to do. I hadnt been happy in a long time, and as much as I regret letting things get to that degree, it gave me the wake up call I needed to leave. this would be the cake

So, a single mom of 2, working a job paying minumum wage, I did life on my own.

For the first time in 7 years. I hit every speed bump imaginable. From having my best friend of 10 years turn her back on me, to being laid off from a job. From living in the 'ghetto' and literally having strangers bust through to my living room fighting, to being too broke to move on my own and living with my parents. And everything in between. this would be the icing

So now, in present day, Ive been picking up the pieces. This seems to be an ongoing trend in my life. Things have been falling back into place, and quiet in my life...which is the way I like it.

Until.....the past few weeks. When my whole world has turned upside down again.

Out of nowhere, I get a call from the prosecuting attorney asking me to come in for a deposition on my ex's case (he is being charged with child abuse) This happened 2 years ago. And everything has been a slow, long, drawn out process. Come to find out, he was arrested for domestic assualt on his wife. And facing another felony. So the court decided to put move everything up and get things going. My deposition was horrible. It was with the defense attorney. And, Im pretty sure he didnt like me too well. Ive never felt so inadequate in my entire life. He questioned everything I said, asked about my past (a ticket from 10 years ago!) questioned me as a mom. It was the worst 2 hours of my life. But I just looked at it that I am doing it for my child. Im taking her place so she doesnt have to go through this. And Im standing up for her when she cant. Thats the only way I can look at it. Trial is April 4th. Im sure, judging by how my deposition went, that it is going to be 10 times worse. this would be the sprinkles

Along with this stress, I find out some not so good information from my girls about thier grandma (his mom) They go see her every week. Or they did. The situation with her is a whole other story. So lets just say that my girls told me a few instances and occurances that I am definately not ok with, so I stopped letting her see them. After a few weeks of her sending me threatening texts and emails, and leaving me nasty voicemails, calling me every name in the book, telling me she will have my kids taken from me, and threatening me with the most riduculous of threats, she went quiet. I knew that wasnt a good thing. But i sure wasnt going out of my way to find out what she was up to. Then, last week, I was served a summons at work. I assumed it was for this whole thing with my ex. Until I saw her name on it. Turns out, shes taking me to court for grandparents rights! Shes requesting overnight visitation once a week with Mady. Seriously. I wish people would just leave me alone and let me and my kids live our life. I obviously have been letting her see them up until this point, no questions asked, so theres a valid reason Im not! This makes me very angry if you cant tell. this would be the cherry

And this brings me to today. The bow on the cherry, on top of the sprinkles and icing on the cake.

I was getting ready to leave Republic and go see my best friend. We were going to get our nails done, and enjoy an afternoon of relaxing and not worrying about anything. Until...yep you knew it was coming. I got pulled over. Turns out, my tags are expired. And these Republic cops have super vision and can see my tiny little sticker from a parking lot 2 miles away from me. I was expecting a ticket for sure. What I wasnt expecting, was for this cop, who I advised was not my best friend today, to tell me he was going to have to take me to jail. Did you get that?? J-A-I-L. He informed me it was for a warrant I had from 2008 for a failure to appear for a ticket I got for not registering a vehicle in my name. Or something along those lines. I still havent figured out all the details. I, for 1, have never got a ticket for any such thing. Ive never not had a vehicle registered in my name. And 2, (dont think Im bad) but I have been pulled over 5 times since 2008, and this has NEVER been brought up! EVER! Theres nothing on my record, no active warrants, and no kind of ticket/case from 2008 for me. Trust me, I had my sister do some investigating today, and nothing turned up. So I dont understand. The police officer doesnt understand. Now, on top of all the other court crap I have to deal with, I now have to go to court for this mysterious warrant.

I honestly have no idea how in the world I stay sane dealing with all this. Im a natural worry-er. But I give up worrying. Somehow, this crazy little mess I call my life, will be at a point where I can once again pick up the pieces. Until then, I think Im going to enjoy some of that cake :)