Yesterdays wrote:

Hi caninelover. We are canine lovers now too, with a 11 month corgi puppy. It's been amazing having a dog. She is a very silly and loving puppers. Makes us laugh all the time.
Good news about bratty. Was she the one that had originally wanted to be a mermaid? Sounds like she's not causing drama which must be nice.

Sorry to hear of the loss of your dad

Pets add so much to our lives.  Glad you are enjoying your corgi pup!

And yes Bratty at one point considered mermaiding LOL.

Aniki-Moderator wrote:

I'm so sorry for your loss, caninelover. 

Thanks Aniki.  And thank you again for creating a place for the StepTalk refugees

That dog looks a lot more chill then my puppy in the shower 😂

I wrote a post or blog in Steptalk about being triggered--how through all these years and things being settled and good, I sometimes still get triggered because of past step-trauma. Most of mine is focused on the skids.  
BM here was like a lot of cheaters: the grass looked greener elsewhere until she rolled around in it and ended up with dog poop all over her. Came out smelling bad! By then, DH had GONE. She wanted him back. 
Like someone else said in here, DH didn't tell me the full BM story when we were dating (probably out of embarrassment). I later learned she was a major factor in his two prior post-divorce relationships going south. Our first year together, there were a few arrows thrown, and she sent him a birthday card and wrote in it, "You are an AMAZING MAN." (wtf?) It was later very clear that she wanted to destroy our marriage. One of the hundreds of emails she sent to the both of us said something about, "I know we tried to reconcile several times." When she didn't get what she wanted, she turned the skids against both of us. Yes, she was special.  I get the hate. I have been there! 

BUT it's true: living well is not only the best revenge; it helps to disappear these kinds of people . . . at least for the most part. I knew I was mostly out of it (when it comes to BM, not necessarily the skids) when one of the skids said (because they always incessantly talked about her in our home) that she had started a really good new job, and I said, "Oh, that's good. She still has some time to collect some good retirement." And I meant it. 

But remember this: People like your DH's ex and my DH's ex and many of our DHs' exes make their own misery. They tend not to be happy or content people. Happy people don't act badly. And they've made their own swampy beds which they have to lie in every night. BM on this end has had no relationships since she was with the cheating boyfriend so many years ago. It appeared a while back that many of her friends had dropped

You've been busy! Glad to know you're doing well. 

Just hanging with my bride this evening both surfing on devices.  She is watching a video on stupid accidents. Then she bust out laughing and says loudly "OMG, they broke Jesus!"  I lost it.  The look on her face and her voice was classic.  Apparently someone was mowing the lawn at a church and ran the riding mower into a statue of Jesus knocking it over and breaking it.

What a cutie! 

Stealing my person items to make my life difficult- keys, eyeglasses, ear buds, even got caught with stealing MY UNDERWEAR, triangulation, manipulation)

Even if you had been ok with the children living with you before marriage, this behavior screams NO to his children living with you now.