I have already paid off the fridge, I'm bidding on the Golden Dawn thing right now, and we're getting ready to go looking for a Dishwasher and Futon.

R's family and their indentured servant (No I'm not kidding) came over last night. The house they live in now, they bought off of a guy that was about to lose it. He went to jail, they bought the house. When he came out, they let him live on the property and feed him, in return for which his ass is at their beck and call. I will never understand how some people get themeselves into these sitiuations.

R's younger brother G ran off last week with her StepDad's truck and their mom's ATM card. They found him when he called last night. He's in jail. This is not a surprise.

R's older brother and J celebrated their birthday's here last night. J. is now 16. It amazes me the difference between him at sixteen and me at 16. At sixteen, I'd be working on the weekends for a while, and during summer break. I played guitar and african drum, both of which I bought myself. I was starting college. I regularly went to parties and got through a lot of beer and cigarettes. I used to drink coffee in the morning, and go down the pub of a lunchtime.

I am glad J is not doing some of the things I did. Beer and cigarettes for one, although I don't want him to see alcohol as something to aspire to. If he wants a beer , I'll let him have one. He needs to have a normal relationship with alcohol - anything else can lead to problems later.

On the other hand though, the kid has no social life outside school. He doesn't work, has no interest in working, and probably couldn't get a part time job anyway because his grades suck, and I suspect the grocery store will look at those things when making hiring decisions. From what I understand kids that work 8-20 hours a week while in school tend to get better grades and be better adjusted than kids that don't work at all, or kids that work too many hours (20+). So he needs a job to get some money and get his grades up. But he can't get a job until he gets his grades up. Oy Vey.

Well I've rambled on enough for now. Have a thigh-throbbingly wonderful weekend!