Yep, we survived 7 nights in a house with four adults (incl. us) and five kids, one of whom is sociopathic. That's not my diagnosis, but I agree with it: petty theft, assault-with-and-without-intent, bad language, bad attitude, lack of remorse (or even any recognition that he'd done something wrong), manipulation up the wazoo... Whew. And this is our godson!
Sum total: of all the 'issues' he was involved in for the week, there was NOT ONE in which he told the complete truth. Long distance phone calls--check, lied about that for three days. Stealing some of Sparky's Yu-Gi-Oh cards and putting them with his brother's collection--check, never admitted, but his brother simply is incapable of lying. Pretending to sexually assault his sister--check, turned in by Sparky. A nearly infinite number of instigating assorted problems--check, for which he was busted each and every time. Telling us we pick on him and he hates us--check, but I only heard this once because I told him we pick on him because he's a liar and a putz. And then I left/tuned-out when he started down that road again.
Times we pulled over and offered him a long walk: once (in our care--who knows how many in his parents' care). Times we offered to vivisect him: oh God, 20? 40? Times we yelled: too many. Times we bargained: me, 0; the Beast, 2 or 3. Times the Beast pinned him to the bed/floor/wall by talking directly into his face from 4 inches away: I saw it four times, but I'd bet there were more.
Other than that, it was a decent vacation. The Beast had to sleep in the living room--we couldn't figure out a way to move a 'comfy chair' into the bedroom for him--which meant that he didn't sleep much.
He's making up for that this morning: still asleep in the recliner at 9:45 a.m. I went to bed at 9 last night, and I think he crashed by 11ish.
Sparky got sunburned after two (three?) straight days at the pool. He called it quits on swimming after that, which means he really felt lousy. It didn't help that he's caught a cold and the last two days have been spent in close contact with a large but ever-emptying box of Kleenex. He's supposed to go to a giant waterpark tomorrow with our Recreation Department on a preteen/teen daytrip. Haven't mentioned it to him yet...we'll see.
Me? I did innumerable crosswords, played four different rounds of poker (won or was chip leader after 3 of them), read two books which I'll report elsewhere hopefully later today, and didn't sleep enough. Oh, and two days of major and minor nervous breakdowns, mostly because of the adults on the trip. We're pretty used to the kids being obnoxious (and pathological in one case), so they don't get to me in a long-term way.
We had to find a new rental house this year as our 'regular' house was sold last year and is no longer rented. This one was nearly twice as expensive and supposedly had more amenities, which as far as I can tell meant extreme privacy (i.e. lots of woods), TVs in every bedroom as well as the living room, no sunshine on the deck in the afternoon (which was nice and meant a more constant in-house temperature), a game room with four arcade games, and an extra bathroom.
It also somehow meant really crappy mattresses, extremely ratty linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom, an extra $10 charge to cover taking the garbage to the dump, a lousy excuse for a yard for the kids to play in, and no sunshine after about 11 a.m. (and no view at all) because the trees were that close most of the way around the house.
We'll be finding a new house to rent for next year.
I went for several walks on the cooler days, spent a day at the pool reading and watching the kids get sunburned--a fate I somehow avoided--spent one day shopping, which means I bought a few Christmas presents and a bunch of stuff for ME (antiques, sandals, two blouses), and enjoyed the change of pace.
Sadly, however, I missed my job, my bed, my quiet house, and my routine.
I didn't miss the computer--much. Beast managed to write one rant to post on his blog but we couldn't upload. I didn't bother. Everything was either "I'm pissed" or "I'm tired" or "I'm on vacation." Too boring for words, literally.
Today the Beast goes to the pain dr. for his pre-procedure physical (sigh). We have to stop at the regular doctor's office to sign some paperwork. I need an allergy shot. The grocery situation is somewhat dire, too, so that's another stop. We're back to what passes for normal life, obviously.
Oh, and I took no pictures on this trip. None. Nada. Quite unusual, even for me.
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