Hello Bethel Woods!

I've lived in the area for a lot of years but before this weekend, my only involvement with Bethel Woods Center for the Arts was passing the Woodstock exit on the NYS Thruway.

But Saturday, I actually got off at the exit en route to a Pat Benatar and REO Speed Wagon Concert (which was great, BTW! I really, really miss the 80s!) - and OMG, what a beautiful, beautiful place! Lush, rolling hills, acres of space, tons of gorgeous trees - quite blissful, actually. The suburbanite in me might miss having a supermarket within a few minutes drive, but I could totally live there, I think.

With an amazing ampitheater there are still lots of events scheduled for the late summer and early fall, including concerts, museum events and programs the whole family can enjoy ("Yo Gabba Gabba" performed last week and the Jonas Brothers were there last summer). Not to far from most spots in the Hudson Valley, a visit to Bethel Woods is well worth the trip!

Child Support Enforcement Sucks

Be forewarned: This is a rant. Let me preface this by adding that my child does not read this blog, so I can give details he doesn't know or need to know about.

This might sound horrible, but I've been happily divorced for 10 years now. The filing process started in July 1999, but due to some lost paperwork via the Orange County Sheriff's Department (namely, proof that my ex had been served with the divorce decree), the marriage wasn't legally dissolved until January of 2001. For those of you that have never been through a divorce in New York state when there are children from the union, before the specifics about the division of assets and property can be handled, child custody and support has to be settled via family court. The amount of child support to be paid by the non-custodial parent is determined by his or her income. In our case, because we only had one child, my ex was ordered to pay 17% of his income a month for child support, which came to $624 a month. He was also ordered to keep health insurance for our son.

Three years later, when going to have my son's asthma prescription filled at the pharmacy, I found out his insurance had been canceled. Child support for that month also never arrived. My employer did not offer health insurance for family members so I quickly enrolled my son in the state Child Health Plus program, but it took six weeks before the application was approved and he had insurance again. Counting the two weeks he was without insurance before I found out, it was two months total that he had absolutely no coverage. Thank goodness it didn't happen, but if my child would have had an asthma attack, a broken bone or even a deep cut requiring stitches during those two months, I would have been in a world of financial hurt.

Two months of calls to the county Child Support Enforcement Unit (who, at the time, only took calls between 9am and 10:30am daily) netted no information about the missing child support, other than the fact that my ex - whose wages were being garnished for child support - was no longer employed by the same company. Their suggestion was to file paperwork in Family Court for a support violation. That meant a drive to Goshen during the workday, filling out the paperwork, having my ex served with the paperwork, waiting on a court date then taking another half-day off from work to appear before a support magistrate.

So I did all that. The court date was two months down the road and when we arrived, we were told to come back again two months after that. By then, child support hadn't been received in almost seven months.

To make a very long story short, this went on for over two years. At one of the hearings, I finally found out that my ex had been fired from his job allegedly for an injury which also kept him from finding gainful employment. At that hearing, his support obligation was reduced to $50 a month - the minimum amount allowed in the state. He was over $9,000 in arrears by that point, though.

But I also found out he was eligible to collect state disability, and since my son was under 18, he was also entitled to collect. So, another half-day off from work was needed to go down to the Social Security office and file the necessary paperwork to have that begin. That amount was $360 a month - a little more than half of what used to come in for support.

Our final trip back to support court was under a new magistrate (the one who had reduced my ex to the state minimum had thankfully retired) - who promptly ordered my ex to pay 17% of what he was receiving from disability to fulfill his support obligation - a total of $150 per month. About six months ago, a cost of living adjustment (COLA) was granted, bringing the total amount my ex now actually pays out of pocket in monthly support to $170. That's a whopping $42.50 a week.

Cut to August 2010. Because of his non-payment history, I always check the state website to see if/when the payment was posted. It is due before the fifth of each month and the state is required by law to forward the payment within 48 hours of receiving it. So by August 10, when it still hadn't been received - although it had been posted on August 4 - I discovered I had to wait 10 days before I could notify the support collection unit that the payment never made it to our mailbox. On August 14, I called to find out I had to wait 10 BUSINESS DAYS before I could report the missing check. I called back on August 18 to be told that, even though my mail had been delivered for the day, I still had to wait until 12am August 19 before I could report the missing payment. When I called back the next morning, I was told that the "stop payment" form would be mailed to me the following day and should arrive within five business days. Emailing or faxing it was not an option. Nope, I'm not kidding.

Fortunately, I did receive it yesterday, but getting it back meant I had to put a stamp on an envelope and mail it back - a process that could take another five days or so. Hopefully, the check - now almost a month late - will be re-issued by the end of next week.

In these tough economic times, it doesn't seem like too outlandish a scenario to think that some custodial parent might actually need that money for food, back-to-school shopping or whatever else little Junior or Suzy may have to have. The idea that it would take so long to even be able to report a missing check is unbelievable. Why is nobody protesting or complaining about that?

Yep - child support enforcement and collection absolutely suck...

And So It Begins...

In the mail a few days ago was a letter addressed to both me and my son. He'll be 17 on the second day of the school year (his final year in high school), but I wasn't quite prepared for what was inside: information about scheduling an appointment for his senior portraits/graduation photos.

I guess my denial should be over, but it isn't. Sure he's taken SATs, been to a few "college nights" at his high school and has begun earnestly looking at which schools to apply to and visit, but I still can't believe he will be a high school senior in a few weeks. Wasn't he just in a onesie and chomping on a pacifier?!?

Not only are the college visits on the horizon, but applications, auditions (he plans on majoring in performing arts), FASAF forms, scholarship and grant perusals, senior prom and all that stuff is, too. It will be a very exciting year for him, of course - but an expensive one for me as a tuition deposit for whichever school we settle on will be due in 11 short months!

A few of my friends are going through the process of packing their eldest children's stuff and driving them off to college. Many of them are excited for their kids - especially when they think of their own college days. Some of them are happily planning on converting their child's bedroom into a study or sewing room and one is publicly celebrating the fact that she will finally have her car back. But all of them are experiencing the tugging at the heart strings when they realize their "babies" have grown up and are moving out.

A year from now, that will be me. I know there will be tears and confetti as well.

So let's get this party started...

Are You Kidding?!?

On a martial arts forum for women, an article about the body of actress Christina Hendricks (from "Mad Men") was just posted. In a nutshell, the article touted her curvacious, size 14 body as being the ideal for women around the globe.

I say the author of the article and everyone quoted in it should really get a hobby as they obviously have too much time on their hands.

The article features the same picture of Hendricks as I have here, standing there smiling for the camera. I'd be willing to bet that how the photo was going to be used was not what she was thinking about when she saddled up to the lens and smiled. The women I know don't really have a burning desire to be the standard "ideal" when it comes to how their body parts are arranged. That just seems like too much freaking pressure to me.

For years there has been backlash towards the rail-thin models that walk the runways of the world and appear in fashion ads. No woman really looks like that, the critics say (which obviously ain't true) and we shouldn't be "promoting" them as the ideal standards of beauty. But I'm sure the models see their roles as a way to keep roof overhead and pay their bills. See, they aren't the ones waving their bony arms and telling the world to look exactly like them. And if it is the young, impressionable tweens and teens we're worried about warping, blame to their parents for tossing them Vogue or Cosmo in the first place.

I see it like this: there is only so much about the body you were born to have that you can control. Of course you can eat right and exercise, but the length of your legs, the size of your hips (I'm talking bone structure here, folks) or the shape of your torso aren't things that can be changed, really. Accept that and move on. I'm not suggesting we all eat ourselves into comas (because that's just not healthy), but opening up a magazine and comparing your body to the bodies of every woman in it isn't healthy, either.

So, really - when there are so many other things to concern ourselves with, is this what women are really obsessing about?

My Life as a Summer Camp Counselor

The current state of the economy and the idea that I will be paying tuition at some institution of higher learning or another for my child in 14 short months has forced me to find gainful employment outside of the magazine, freelancing and teaching this summer. Yes, dear friends, I'm working as a counselor at a summer camp.

If you've never had the pleasure, let me tell you - it can be both one of the most trying and the most rewarding gigs ever (so they tell me, anyway; I haven't see much of the "rewarding" part, just the "trying" end of things)...

So if you are a parent whose only experience with summer camp before sending your kids was going to one 30 years ago, here are some things you should know:

1. Your kids are going to CAMP - not the daggone Mojave Desert. They do not need enough food for a small army or 10 water bottles. Trust me - they can't possible eat and drink all that in 7-8 hours, although they think they can and may actually try.

2. Encourage your child to do things for him/herself. That includes carrying oversized backpacks and lunch boxes from the car to the sign-in spot each day. Because when you're not around, they expect me to do it instead - and I'm. Just. Not.

3. If your child cannot carry, lift, pull, push or snap it by him/herself, leave it at home. This applies to complicated zippered clothing, jumbo coolers and the afore-mentioned gargantuan back packs with three changes of clothing and enough snacks to feed an entire day care center for a week (see #1 above).

4. And while we're on the subject of food, please be mindful of the garbage you are packing for your kids and just...don't. Know that if you give Jane a bag of chocolate chip cookies and explicit directions to only eat them after lunch, she's gonna gobble them down before 10am. Don't want an obese kid with health issues? Start by giving that kid something better to choose from than a 6-foot "fruit" roll up and a "juice" box that has absolutely no juice in it.

5. Your child will undoubtedly have a disagreement with another camper at some point during the summer. Just know that, even if he/she insists that the other kid started it, chances are your child was not totally innocent. If you think he/she is, I'll bet you $100 bucks you're wrong.

6. If your child cannot tie his/her shoes, swallow your pride and buy Junior some sneakers with Velcro. Flopping shoe laces are very much a safety issue when there are about 30 other pairs of feet that can trip over them, but it also drives counselors mad to have to tie 60 little light-up sneakers 15 times a day. I'm not kidding.

7. Teach your kid the basics of "please" and "thank you" if you would. Nothing spells "no home training" faster than having Little Suzie stick a yogart cup in your face while saying "Open this!"

8. Lots of thought went into planning the activities scheduled. Not participating is rude (can't tell you how many times I hear "But I don't wanna _________!" each day) , disruptive ('cause someone's gotta watch your kid while he isn't with the rest of the group) and a flat out waste of my time and your money. Think about it: he/she could stay at home and do nothing and it would cost you absolutely nothing, too, right?

9. Follow the camp guidelines on what to dress your child in. If swimming is part of the camp schedule, have them wear a swim suit under their clothes so an extra 15 minutes won't need to be alloted so your child to find his/her stuff, make a way to the changing room, get the swim suit on, then put all the clothes they took off somewhere they can find them when it's time to change back. And if closed-toed shoes are required, don't let them wear flip flops! Nobody can really run and play in flip flops, no matter how cute they may look. Seriously, it just can't be done.

10. If you don't want to clutter up your fridge door with yet another piece of "art" by your budding genius, that's too damn bad. Today, a mom asked a counselor to hold the slightly wet 4th of July flag painting her child had done until Tuesday (the next day of camp - which is after the 4th, BTW) because she'd borrowed her sister's Bentley and didn't want to risk getting "anything" in/on it. You don't hafta take it home, but you've got to take it out of the arts and crafts room or there won't be an ounce of space left to work on anything else for the whole summer. Our space is limited. Handle your business.

It's only been a week, so I'm sure I'll come up with more as the summer progresses. Seriously, moms - an ounce of prevention really does go a long way. I'm just sayin'...