Sistah Pat

Around here, it isn’t “Calgon, take me away.”.  It’s “Manny, take me away.”  DH told me that he invited DS, DIL, Scout and Jake (grandkiddies) to go to Edinburgh with us today.  I’m rather surprised.  He’s acting weird.  Last night, I told him Phyllisann brought some leftover Wick’s pizza for her lunch and it looked so good, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Wick’s is the home of the 10 lb. pizza.  They’ve won all kinds of awards and we’ve had their pizza about 3 or 4 times.  It’s not close to us and they cost a fortune ($34.00) for a large.  He decided we were having Wick’s for dinner.  I told him I really didn’t want all the calories and I was just making conversation but he insisted.  I told him it was crazy to pay that kind of money for a pizza and he said, “I don’t care.  We’re having Wick’s for dinner and I don’t want you to even think about the calories.”  Then he proceeded to tell me that he called DS the other night and invited them to go to Edinburgh with us today.  He said he and DS are going to watch the kids and DIL and I are just supposed to shop till we drop.  DIL has mentioned that she would like to go to Edinburgh with me and I really enjoy being with her when she’s not being psycho but I was really surprised that DH would take the initiative to work things out and invite them without discussing it with me.  Just not like him at all.  I think he’s tired and he’s concerned about the way I’ve been stressing lately and just decided to get us away from here.  I really love being with DIL when she’s not having one of her manic episodes.  She’s beautiful, fun, energetic, and witty.  It’s a shame she goes over to the dark side so often.

So…here I am.  Drinking my coffee, blogging, and getting ready to throw my PJs into the RV.  We ought to have a good time.

As an update…I met with my students for the third time yesterday and started training them to repair laptops.  I can’t keep up with it anymore and I decided to use my students.  The curriculum is totally up to me and I really want to teach them about internet usage and safety and how to use some more advanced programs but I think I can throw a section in there on basic computer repairs.  I showed some of them how to fix broken keys and gave them a stack of laptops to work on, showed some more how to configure them for the wireless network, showed some others how to wire the carts and set them up and then gave my “problem child” a few that needed airport cards replaced.  There were only five laptops with that problem so it made sense to have only one student working on them and it gave me a chance to talk with him when I showed him how to fix them.  He was very apologetic for his outburst on Thursday and I told him I just couldn’t have that.  He was very enthusiastic about being given the responsibility of repairing the laptops and we got over the first hurdle.  He apologized and I told him I realized he had some behavior issues and would work with him the best I could but I would NOT let him disrupt my class.  We seemed to form a tenuous rapport and he was very respectful.  Guess we’ll see what happens.  I had an opportunity to speak with the AP about him and I haven’t seen his paperwork yet but, apparently, he’s bipolar, lives in an abusive atmosphere (which hasn’t been proven or addressed) and is dealing with a lot of crap.  The AP tells me the kid’s mother is with a physically abusive boyfriend and she gets housing provided by the state but she’s pretty much moved out of the house and in with the boyfriend and the four kids are left alone in the house.  Their water is turned off and the mom comes by a couple times a week to hang out for a little while and drop off some food.  I don’t understand that kind of stuff.  If they know what’s going on, why hasn’t it been addressed?  The AP says Child Protective Services is “working on it”.  This kid is 14 and he has a 12 year old sister, and brothers who are 17 and 19.  I think the mom is getting away with it because the 19 year old is residing in the house.  Guess I’ll find out more as the days progress.  In the meantime, I’ll try to build a relationship with this kid so that I can get what I need from him and he can get something he needs from me.

On that note…I’m off to the showers and then going incommunicato in Edinburgh until tomorrow afternoon.  As Joy would say, “Toodles!”