Just to get this part out of the way: life is a lot more peaceful with one dog. We had the Cattle Dog alone and now the Shih Tzu alone, and it turns out that A LOT of the barking they do when they were both here was competetive stuff. So now that we are once again at one dog we don't have half the barking, we have like one fourth, or less.

So that is good.

We had lunch yetersday with some lawyer friends who do family law (among other things). Though Gary has decided he's okay with TPR, the lawyers think that 1) it wouldn't be difficult for that state to prove that TPR was warranted if they wanted to and 2) the state won't be very motivated to do so, since as long as Will is the father they always have the chance to get more money of him. It would be possible that the state would accept a voluntary TPR if our adopting him really was in the cards, but it isn't. Gary isn't showing any interest in that (which I totally understand and support), and his mother's parental rights would have to be terminated anyway. Showing cause would be easy with her since he hasn't seen her except for one visit since he was two, there is still a process and Gary is almost seventeen, so there's not much time for it.

Briand and Gary are back in school. They seem to be doing okay. Gary is miffed because he and the girlfriend don't have any classes together and really only see each other for lunch. Her parents only want to let her come out either Saturday or Sunday, not both, because they get to see each other every day at school anyway. Personally I think it s good for Gary to have a girlfriend who can't take up much of his time, but he's less than happy with it.

Gary is taking guitar which he was sure was going to be really easy. It is turning out that it is difficult because it is classical guitar. He has to learn read music. Most of the other kids already can read music, at least some. It is afterall, an arts school. They may not be able to site read, but they have been in band and/or choir and they have some understanding of what the notation means. Gary doesn't.

His diet is interesting. He eats a bowl of peas or something for breakfast, continues through his day staying his low calorie plan and then he eats 3 or 4 dinners. I try not to tease him about it. He is just so hungry by the end of the day.

I've been reading this series of "fluff" books. The heroine is a telepathic barmaid named Sookie Stackhouse. She lives in the Lousianna and has involvement with vampires, who have all "come out" now that synthetic blood products can keep them alive. There semi-ridiculous books, but fun. The covers are sort of juvenile and the prospect of being teased would keep me from reading them much, except I have the kindle. No one can see. For a while I was struggling with the guilt of constantly reading slightly-trashy books. I kept trying to ration myself: read for an hour and then do something productive. It wasn't working. At one point though I just decided to commit to it. I was going to read them all and the faster I did it, the sooner I would be free. It was a lot more fun then, and I was relaxed enough that I didn't forget to eat lunch and start to feel absolutely yucky in the late afternoon. I did finally finish all nine of them. Yipee.

Now I really, really need to start writing syllabi for classes.