She's so dumb.

  The mediator called me yesterday morning and said she had gotten a hold of The Ex; she said she didn't think there needed to be mediation any longer as there seemed to be an agreement, but The Ex still wanted something changed and she would have to speak to Husband about it.  I asked if she was able to tell me what it was that The Ex wanted to change; she said it wasn't that she couldn't tell me, but I wasn't able to make the decision on Husband's behalf and she needed to speak with him directly. (The good old mantra of being a stepparent: you have no say over what happens even though it affects you and your household.  I wasn't trying to make a decision for him, anyway.  I was trying to find out what The Ex wanted so I could get a hold of Our Attorney if need be to run the information past her.)

  Husband fortunately got out of work early, called the mediator, and then called me.

  The Ex told the mediator that Son had told her that he wants to finish the school year here, but she wanted to change the summer placement.  Husband previously used to have a 4-day work shift, so in the summer he would get the kids from Friday through Monday.  He changed positions quite awhile back and a few months after he took the new position, they changed his shift from 4 days a week to 5 days a week.  Since he was now working Mondays, The Ex wanted to start picking up the kids on Sundays in the summer.

  I was going to tell Husband to just agree to it, just to shut her up and be done with all of this.  But you guys, my husband really impressed me - he thought about everything by himself and had a completely valid argument as to why he would not agree to what The Ex wanted.  Husband explained to the mediator that just because he is currently working a 5-day week does not mean that is indefinite; he said he could change positions again and immediately be back on a 4-day week.  Husband also said that Son was going to be 18 next summer and at that point, he could choose to live wherever he wanted to; the change that The Ex was requesting would have more of an impact on Daughter than it would on Son.

  In addition to those very valid points, I said that this entire motion was regarding Son and his placement for the school year; it had nothing to do with Daughter and nothing to do with the summer schedule.  The Ex doesn't get to file a motion, decide she doesn't want to ask for those things anymore, and then just invent new things to fight over; that's not how court works.

  So Husband called the mediator back and confirmed that he did not agree to The Ex's request, but said he would be willing to suspend the mediation (That had been the mediator's suggestion.) for about six months to see if anything changed.

  And that's the story of how The Ex spent money paying Attorney 4 to prepare a motion for absolutely no reason and wasted everyone's time, including her own.