Progress

I got an email from my lawyer on Thursday saying that Spanish officials had informed court that they haven't been able to find mr. Ex.
This means court will make an announcement in our "Official Paper" for Ex to give his statement regarding the divorce, custody and child support within 14 days, after which it will be ruled regardless of his lack of action.

You know, they may give me an early birthday gift. I am not sure did the announcement make it on time to be published in April's first issue, but even if it didn't (then it's published in first May issue) I may be free woman with full custody in June.

I was thinking that I may be mean and not inform Ex about the divorce or child support or custody when it goes through... *grin* He'll find it out some day. And it may come as a negative surprise as Finnish SII can and will work to get their money from him as long as he stays in EU.

Banana Cookies

Thanks to Tiny's rather erratic craving for bananas we have had quite a few overripe bananas in our house lately and I have been baking like there's no tomorrow (and my waistline has appreciated that greatly).
Today I googled banana cookies as it sounded like a fun idea and came upon this.

They came out as little cakes, but are yummy!

I replaced 1/4 of flour with coconut flour (which I love), added ½ tsp of cardamom (which I love) and replaced suggested nuts with sunflower seeds.

Absolute yumminess.

I am afraid that there may not be any left when my mom comes on Thursday even I thought it would be nice to have something sweet with coffee...

Change is good every now and then

The old title of my blog had been bothering me quite a while, but I just couldn't figure out anything positive, yet sarcastic... so, I turned to my idol Hyacinth Bucket (it's pronounced Bouquet).



Maybe should call Tiny Sheridan from now on? *grin*

The Plan

At the moment I am in a limbo regarding my, our life. The divorce (incl. custody etc.) is still in progress, thanks to slowness of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs: it took nine months from them to find out ("find out") that Spanish legislation prevents getting any real information about Ex's whereabouts without court order - but regardless they have an address. Ages old address, but it's none of my business.
It probably is my problem as the letter local court sent in the end of January may be hanging in there quite a while, even though I assume the court assumes that if there is no reply within few months he is not interested/ didn't get the letter (-> is not interested).
So, with luck I'd get out of limbo this summer.

The problem lays in us, Ex and me, having shared custody in the eyes of the law, thanks to having a child in wedlock. And basically he has his word to say regarding Tiny's whereabouts.

And I am planning to move cities this year. And in theory he could oppose it if things don't go as wanted or if we are still waiting for the verdict.

But, our constitution provides every person freedom to decide where they live, and constitution has priority over family laws.
And then there's the fact that Ex has never met Tiny nor has shown any actual interest to do so (not to mention he has never even wished him happy birthday or asked how Tiny's doing). So, my, our, city of residence bears no significance to him.

But still he can make things difficult to us just out of spite if he wishes to do so.

Anyway... in August I will apply to University of Applied Sciences, a new job and an apartment in the same city where my mom lives. Uni would be 15 kilometers from us, but granny, Tiny's most favourite person on this Earth, would be only 3 kilometers from us (or closer, if I decide to apply for an apartment from that side of the river). Which would ease our lives greatly.
One of my great worries has been that time when Tiny goes to school and I start full-time work again. He will be seven years old, has short-ish school days and in worst case scenario he has to spend a lot of time alone. And I don't want that.
This is where having granny close by makes all the difference: she can pick him up from school and look after him before I get home.

Cost of living is also a factor. I have done some research and we would pay considerably smaller rent - and real estate is far cheaper in there than it is here in Metropolitan area.
In here I could never even dream to own my home, even less to own a house whereas in there I could actually buy a house and pay it in reasonably short period of time (in comparison to house loans in here). Which is more or less necessary as my pension won't be too good and having low cost of living would help.

I sound so middle aged. *grin*

Mr. Murphy Was Here

As usual things tend to go awry when they are going well.

First I had nasty URI for over four weeks (and chances are that I got a sinusitis from it), then I shattered the screen of my phone (insurance covered 56 euros, initial bill roughly 202 euros...) and one of my teeth started acting up (its first root canal treatment visit is on Friday, oh joy!). And stress is not good for my mojo, or blogging. Or me.

But, I have been stitching a bit lately. My mom brought a Lightning McQueen cross stitch kit from Tallinn and I just had to start it, even Tiny knows nothing about it, and it is slowly beginning to look like a car (no pics as for now as I dislike my old sucky Nokia with passion).
I'll probably finish it as a small pillow or somesuch so Tiny can carry it around and adore it.

And on good news:

Mr. Tiny, also known as my little bundle of joy and/ or frustration (he is in *that* age, see), turned 2! Despite being born last week he did turn two... I guess he goes school in next month or so. *grin* (He'll start school 2019... but goes to kindergarten within a year. o.O)

So, here I am. Alive and more or less well. Just tired and stressed and so on. *grin*