In this day and age, it seems that more and more kids have at least one step-parent. Divorce rates are extremely high, leaving kids with a custodial parent and a non-custodial parent. But is parenting restricted solely to the biological parents? I think not.

Let’s look at a hypothetical situation. Mom and bio-Dad get married and have, let’s say 2, kids. Mom finds that due to bio-Dad’s compulsive spending, lying and verbal abuse that she can’t let the kids grow up in that kind of unhealthy environment. She finds a lawyer and files for divorce. Bio-Dad is in a situation where his job pays a supplement for family members, but he refuses to send the money for the kids. Instead, he buys a cell-phone and other luxury items for himself. Once the divorce goes to court because bio-Dad refused to let it go uncontested, the judge finds that bio-Dad is already refusing to pay support. Bio-Dad’s lawyer manages to get a lower support payment for bio-Dad, but bio-Dad still refuses to pay.

Bio-Dad continues refusal of payment even though the court has lowered his obligation and dismissed back support owed to date. Mom allows phone calls and visitations despite non-receipt of support.

About a year after the divorce is final, Mom remarries a wonderful guy we’ll call step-Dad. The kids take to step-Dad like fish to water. Wonderful relationships grow and blossom from this union. Mom and step-Dad have 2 more kids, but step-Dad continues to foster growth in academics, spirituality and correct behavior in the older kids. Step-Dad is also providing all support for the family financially as Mom is at home taking care of and homeschooling the kids. Bio-Dad still refuses to make support payments. Mom addresses concern to step-Dad who then encourages Mom to take whatever actions we can without the expense of a lawyer.

Mom tries at least three times to have bio-Dad’s paycheck garnished. The first two times, Mom had what she thought were valid work addresses, but the garnishment papers were returned to the courts. The third time, Mom finally had a correct work address (when bio-Dad was supposed to provide current info at all times) and got the garnishment to go through. Mom doesn’t mention the garnishment to bio-Dad until he notices it on his next paycheck. Bio-Dad calls and says “thanks” for taking the money out because he can’t remember to send the checks every two weeks to support his kids.

Meanwhile, step-Dad continues to provide love and support to all four kids in the house. He loves all the kids like they are his own and treats them equally according to their ages and abilities. Step-Dad has become “daddy” to the older kids, even though they realize that he is not their bio-dad. In fact, the older kids recognize step-Dad as their provider and bio-Dad as someone who fathered them but doesn’t seem interested in them (due to lack of contact on bio-Dad’s part) or their lives. Step-Dad encourages the kids to participate in activities such as Cub Scouts, church choir, and alter service to further their spiritual development.

You tell me. Is the bio-Dad the “dad” or just the father? My opinion stands that step-Dad here is the “dad” to these kids, not bio-Dad. Bio-Dad simply provided genetic material to help produce these kids but does little else in the way of nurturing or providing for the kids. So, in this situation, Dad does not equal Father.

Any man can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a dad.

I found them! I found them! Thanks to Su who found the Snowflake Lace Socks, I will be making even more socks for myself. I may even use the KP Bare Tweed for these without dying them…maybe. Or dyeing them a soft suble pink. I’m thinking about extending them to knee socks though. I’ll let you know how that endeavor works out.

I’m just excited that I don’t have to convert the stitch pattern to knitting in the round like I was trying to do a few days ago before settling on the textured stripes stitch pattern.

1. Limit :: Restrict
2. Voice :: Instrument
3. Change :: Different
4. Expression :: Love
5. Tailor :: Made
6. Lemonade :: Life
7. Thought :: Imagination
8. Phoebe :: Hallowell
9. Impression :: Mark
10. Sister :: Act

I’m exhausted. We had a great time this weekend, though I missed the kids dearly. We managed to have fun anyway, though.

We drove down to Glens Falls so we’d still be fairly close to home if anything happens and we needed to get back. There’s a Toys R Us and a Target down there so we were able to do some shopping we normally can’t do. There’s a Joann’s too, but I told Del I wanted to stay out of there! LOL Our hotel was just 3 blocks from Six Flags Great Escape so we got to see the rides and stuff (closed for the season, of course) on our way in. It looks like they’re setting up a new coaster for this summer; the pieces were laying on the ground near the park.

We were on our (seemingly never-ending) quest to purchase a Wii this weekend, and that’s kind of difficult with the kids. We asked at Toys R Us and Target and couldn’t get a straight answer from either store. When we asked at Wal-Mart (we were buying booze), they told us 6:00 am Sunday! Wow! So Del went down around 5:00 Sunday morning and came back to the hotel with a Wii and an extra remote. We’ve already had loads of fun with the new system. Now, to find more games….

Del convinced me to bring along the DS cases and my knitting, so we played a few games together. He even bought a new game that he likes. I was working on Sami’s Booger Toddler Sock and got to the short-row heel and stopped. I worked the heel both with and without the wrapped stitch and still ended up with holes at the ends of the longer rows. I sent the sock to the frog pond and I’ll work up a different pair of socks for her. I’m frustrated. Any tips on eliminating the holes in a short-row heel?

The weather was typical northern winter weather. It was cold and there were snow flurries. There was lots of snow in the parking lots. This made the hotel lot very slippery and hard to drive on safely. I’m glad Del was driving; I don’t do well on slippery conditions. The major highways were nice and clear, but they had been plowed and salted several times.

Food! We didn’t eat too much Saturday; just snacked on stuff ’cause we weren’t hungry. We had fast food on the way down and then Auntie Annie’s pretzels at the mall in Glens Falls. I ordered the cinnamon pretzel sticks and got a very fresh batch: fresh from the oven! Delicious and worth the 2 minutes I had to wait for them to be prepared. When we walked back past the pretzel shop, all the pretzel sticks were gone, so we got there at a good time. Fast food en route was Wendy’s for Del and KFC for me. I was in the mood for crispy, greasy chicken. Back to good foods today though. Anyway, Saturday night, even though I was exhausted, I had a hard time sleeping because I was terribly uncomfortable. By Sunday morning, the shit hit the fan and I couldn’t stay out of the bathroom. I thought it was something I ate didn’t agree with me, but turns out it was food poisoning from the KFC I had the afternoon before. I didn’t eat much at all Sunday because my bowels hurt from the icky bacteria causing the food poisoning. I’m glad we didn’t buy a whole bucket of chicken!

When we got home, Del missed the driveway and backed into the ditch in the yard. He spun his tires trying to get the car out, but between the snow (no traction) and the edge of the ditch, it was stuck good. His great-aunt and -uncle were driving by in their truck and tried to pull the car up, but the truck wasn’t heavy enough and was spinning tires as well. My FIL ended up using the tractor to get the car unstuck. After getting the car out, Del and my FIL worked on setting rat traps in the cellar. All night last night we heard rats getting caught and struggling to get free. *shudders* I’d rather hear the rats fighting than them getting caught in the traps!

So, all in all we had a really good weekend. I’d love to do it again sometime, even though it’s hard to leave the kids with their grandparents. I just miss my babies when they’re not here or I’m away from them. It’s hard when I’m always home with them. Although when we got home, we were showered by Sami kisses. That was sweet.

Found this at Deneen’s blog. It looked interesting, so I’ll give it a go.

Here’s how it works:

You don’t have to confess your answers, just the amount of your fine. And NO, it is not PER incident (otherwise, some of us would have totals more than the national debt!).

Bring up that calculator, and get to work!

Smoked pot — $10
Did acid — $5
Ever had sex at church — $25
Woke up in the morning and did not know the person who was next to you — $40
Had sex with someone on MySpace — $25
Had sex for money — $100
Vandalized something — $20
Had sex on your parents’ bed — $10
Beat up someone — $20
Been jumped — $10
Crossed dressed — $10
Given money to stripper — $25
Been in love with a stripper — $20
Kissed some one who’s name you didn’t know — $0.10
Hit on some one of the same sex while at work — $15
Ever drive drunk — $20
Ever got drunk at work, or went to work while still drunk — $50
Used toys while having sex — $30
Got drunk, passed out and don’t remember the night before — $20
Went skinny dipping — $5
Had sex in a pool — $20
Kissed someone of the same sex — $10
Had sex with someone of the same sex — $20
Cheated on your significant other — $10
Masturbated — $10
Cheated on your significant other with their relative or close friend — $20
Done oral — $5
Got oral — $5
Done / got oral in a car while it was moving — $25
Stole something — $10
Had sex with someone in jail — $25
Made a nasty home video — $15
Had a threesome — $50
Had sex in the wild — $20
Been in the same room while someone was having sex — $25
Stole something worth over more than a hundred dollars — $20
Had sex with someone 10 years older — $20
Had sex with someone under 21 and you are over 27 — $25
Been in love with two people or more at the same time — $50
Said you love someone but didn’t mean it — $25
Went streaking — $5
Went streaking in broad daylight — $15
Been arrested — $5
Spent time in jail — $15
Peed in the pool — $0.50
Played spin the bottle — $5
Done something you regret — $20
Had sex with your best friend — $20
Had sex with someone you work with at work — $25
Had anal sex — $80
Lied to your mate — $5
Lied to your mate about the sex being good — $25

Tally it up and Title it…”My Fine Is…”
In case you’re wondering, $1090.60 is the fine for every single thing on the list. So…what’s your fine?

Okay, so you may notice the new page entitled “Workout Log” on the sidebar. You may also notice that it is password protected. For now, it’s gonna stay that way and I’m not sharing the password with the general public. Those of you who have it, please keep it to yourselves. The only reason you have it is to berate me if I miss a day of workouts.

I gotta lose some weight here, people, and I need the encouragement of my friends. Keep me going, y’all, and I’m hoping to see the fat go away and the pounds slough away. It took a while to pack on this extra baggage, so I’m not expecting it to go away fast, but it’s got to go away. I don’t like how I look in the mirror without my clothes on! WAH!

After watching the weather on the news last night, Del and I decided that we’d rather not do outdoor activities this weekend, so our plans for Lake Placid are out the window. Instead, we decided to just go out of town on Saturday and come home Sunday, enjoying the sites and different places to eat, shop, etc. from our normal stuff. We’re trying to locate a hotel room in a city we’d like to visit, but we’re having a tough time with that now.

As part of our weekend away, we’re thinking about hitting Best Buy and trying to buy a Wii system. After trying one at our local Game Stop, we’d really like to get one for us and the kids to play. It’s a lot of fun and we’ve been looking at the possibility since before Christmas. The only thing is the cold weather. We’re really going to have to bundle up good and take a couple of blankets with us so we can stand in line without freezing to death (literally, as it’s supposed to be below zero at 7ish).

Once we get back I’ll update on where we ended up going and share select details about the trip. Got a fun post lined up for tomorrow; it’s going around the Blogiverse so you’ve probably already seen it, but it’s fun anyway. And no, I’ve never peed in a pool!!

Oh, yeah, I finished my SIL’s socks last night. I am so proud of how well my grafting went on these too. The first sock was only my second attempt at grafting and both socks turned out beautifully. As predicted, I wasn’t able to get a pic of them together before she ran off with them. Teenagers can be so funny at times!