Today I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed until about 2pm. No, I'm not lazy. I could hear the younger of my two stepsons pitching a fit and being ugly to his brother just as soon as I opened my eyes. I just didn't have it in me today to deal with it anymore. When I did get up, it was because I heard a knock at the door, and against household rules, the youngest had opened the door wide for whoever it was that happened to be out there. Luckily, it was another child coming to see if our boys wanted to come out and play.

I told them both that they could go, but to stay where they were supposed to, follow the normal outside rules, and check-in every hour. I still don't feel that those requests are too much to ask of them. Our oldest followed the rules and when he came home to check-in, he decided that he wanted to watch a movie with me. I asked where his brother was and he told me that he was still outside playing. I waited about ten minutes to see if he'd come up to check-in. He did not. By the time I got out there, he'd disappeared with one of his friends, and as a family, we were unable to locate him for 4 hours. I wish I could say that this is a rare occurrence, but it is not.

I can hardly even bring myself to get worried over him anymore. My nerves are just plain worn out, ground into a fine powder of: heaven help us.

I'm sure there are those out there that see a simple solution: don't let him outside anymore. Well, we tried that, and that lead to him plain tormenting all of us inside the house. He made everyone miserable and angry, until we didn't even want to be in the same room as him at all.

Thank goodness for the two supportive comments that were left for me on my post from yesterday. It was the first time I smiled today

I am anxiously awaiting some informational packages from a few military and boarding schools. Supposedly, they offer payment plans and so-on. Maybe we will actually find one that would be both a good fit and affordable. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I don't know how hopeful I truly am.

We shall see if we can make it though the rest of the evening with little or no dramatics, and I'm praying for the same for tomorrow. Everyday, there is something with that boy.

Appropriately enough, I have the song lyrics, "Just another day in paradise" running through my brain on repeat this evening.