Cuteness, craftiness, and conjecture

What we have here is a picture of a smug little boy who is proud of his dimple. As well he should be. This dimple is a fairly new addition to the features of his mahogany face. I always thought dimples were there when a person is born. You are born with dimples or not. This is not always true, I have discovered.
This is the story of how Sproing got his new dimple. Sometime earlier this year, maybe 4-6 months ago, he and Diva were rough-housing in the living room. It wasn't a particularly friendly scuffle, if I recall. The boy fell (or was thrown) off the sofa and his cheek hit the corner of the coffee table. Big ouch. His cheek swelled up pretty badly. It probably bruised, but I've never been good at identifying a bruise on this boys skin. It's darker than it looks in this picture. His flesh has a reddish undertone, too, which camouflages a bruise. The cheek was swollen and sore for a couple of days, then got better.
A month or two after the injury I was talking to Sproing and noticed the dimple. I thought to myself "That's a cute dimple. I bet he was adorable with that dimple when he was a baby... Wait, I've had this boy since he was a 4 day old baby. This is a new dimple!"
And by now of course, being the charmer he is, he has learned how to incorporate the dimple into his charm show. As Grandma would say, "He's a caution!"

And guess what Superman is holding!?!? Yes, this is the new motor he bought to replace the old dead one in the air conditioner. He got it for about $85 at a supply place down the street. He says it's a better, more efficient motor than the one we had. If it works, I'm happy.
See the wires he's holding in his left hand? There are more wires on this motor than on the old one. Oops. He knows it will work, but isn't sure exactly how to wire it into the a/c unit. So I ask him, is Batman is available to assist? Well, Batman left for a week's vacation yesterday. (the yesterday of this conversation, which happened late last week)

However, all is not lost. Superman called on another of his very handy friends. (leave name suggestions in the comments) That's his fuzzy head up there^. I took this picture from the window in Diva's room. He and Superman worked to very good effect,
and got our a/c working again!!! Yes!! This fella is my He-ro for the weekend. That was Saturday. When we went to bed Saturday night it was much more comfortable in the house, though still a bit warm. This (Sunday) morning the house was blissfully cool.

On to other things

Diva and Sproing have been playing in the little wading pool I bought right after the a/c went out this last time. They have had a rollicking good time, mostly, when they aren't fighting and screeching horribly mean things to each other. I gave Light my camera so she could surreptitiously take some shots of them playing nicely.

I love the above shot. That's Diva's wet head you see, but that huge splash (good work, Light) is all Sproing's doing. Very impressive.
It's hard to tell what they are doing in this picture. They are having fun, playing nicely together, and not complaining to me, so I'm happy with it.
In other news
There's nothing new about this. This is how C and S have left our front stoop. These cigarette butts and the empty soda bottle have been here for a while now. The boys spend a lot of time avoiding the rest of us. It's been so hot this past week I think they spent a lot of time at the homes of other friends. I hardly ever see them anymore. When they are here they are either asleep in their room, or up playing cards, eating my food, and dirtying my kitchen when the rest of us are asleep.
Superman had a talk with them recently. Light's bedroom is right off the kitchen where they spend a lot of their time late at night (all night). Light is a light sleeper. (no pun intended, but it works, doesn't it?) Superman told the boys that there will be no more game playing in the kitchen at night. They need to keep diurnal hours when they are here. To my knowledge there have been no more overnight card games since.
He also talked to them about the food. As did I. They've been cooking our food and feeding their friends at night. No more. That has stopped. I also told S that (I may have mentioned this before. I forget) he is not to cook up any of our food, specifically the meat, unless he is fixing a meal for the entire family at regular meal times. You have to be specific with teenagers. They like to find loopholes. He's the kid who would cook a meal at 3 a.m., he and S eat it, and put the rest in the refrigerator (if he didn't leave it out on the counter). We may never notice that it's in the fridge. But he and S would come back and eat the leftovers. If confronted, he'd say "But it was in there for everyone. You should have gotten some. I didn't want it to go bad, so we just ate the leftovers." I can hear it now. Anyway, I tried to nip that one in the bud.
I sense they are getting restless and uncomfortable here. It's about time. S still doesn't have a job, but he's pretending to look for one. With him it's hard to know how serious he is. He's a charmer. He talks a good talk. His walk, however, stumbles and falls down. I've tried to encourage him. I've tried to be helpful. I think what might be the most helpful now is to give them a move-out date and let them suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune for themselvs. The longer we (I) coddle them, the more damage I do. It isn't helpful anymore. When they first came here over 2 years ago the situation was very different. Two years is a long time, a lot changes in the lives of young people between the ages of 17-20. S was 17 when he moved in here, and C was already here. For that matter, C was 17 when he moved in. OK, so maybe S was 16. No matter. C turned 20 in early June. They have both grown up a lot and are ready to handle a lot more responsibility.
What I'd really like to do instead of just giving them a move-out date is to begin charging rent (which as some of you have said, and probably most of you have thought, I should have been doing all along). We'll start out the first month at maybe $50. (I'm conjecturing here) The second month the rent will be $75. We will increase it by $25 each month. At some point it will be more cost effective for them to have their own place. This also might force the subject, give S the extra motivation to get a job. He isn't in school (dropped out of high school last year in his senior year) and doesn't have a job. We aren't doing him any favors by meeting all his room and boarding needs.
The next thing is to have this talk with them. I think I may be ready. If we can find them, pin them down long enough to listen...
Wish me luck!