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Monday. Just another crazy day in the Malone household. Marnie is getting pretty good at cooking now, and keeps trying tricks that involve fire. (...Which never fails to worry me. It would not be good to lose a parent in this family.. I need all the help I can get!)

Jaz woke up in a good mood, with nothing that needed doing before school, so she spent some time with her younger brother, Braydon. He's the only one of the twins who still has skills to learn, as both have been very good at finishing up things mostly on their own.

In the darkness outside, I spy a ticked off toddler on the warpath. Brett woke up in a bad mood, and plans to take it out on Phoenix.

For the heck of it, I follow along, and laugh at the horrified response Phoenix gives to getting chewed out by a pint size "monster"

After everyone goes to school, the twins have been fed, and I'm busy with Bennie, Marnie starts in with cleaning everything she can. Starting with Braydon, who needed a bath in a big way.

What is Bennie up to? .. Dumpster Diving. He was in no mood to open the store, and being over 1000 short for bills (AGAIN!) was something he certainly wasn't going to admit to anyone. He was also scheduled to work this evening, so getting the bills paid as soon as possible was paramount in his mind.

Luckily, before it was time for him to go to work, he had managed to find enough to sell .. and had covered the bills. This time. He had no idea what would happen next week. There was definitely some thinking to do.... because this whole get-rich-quick scheme with the store was clearly not going to happen. He could not keep going like this, especially when he was hoping to actually get some decent microphone time at the club in the future. Scrambling for dumpster trash every week to pay bills was NOT Bennie's idea of fun, and he was, quite frankly, tired of it.

Oblivious to the thoughts in her husband's mind, Marnie chugged on with her day. When the kids got home from school, Myles was practically in her pocket as usual, and they got one time of getting his homework done focused easily. Then, with an eye towards finishing up some scouting badges he hadn't had time to work on yet, he started gifting his stock of frogs. He was horrified when his precious pets were met with mixed feelings. In fact, he was pretty sure Marnie had let the one he gave her go into the weeds beside the store. When he went to rescue it, though, it was no where to be found. Depressed about the loss of his frogs, he went to go work on his Mental skill on the science table, only to find out it was being used.

Jaz swore he could use it in a few minutes, though, so they chatted amiably for a while. He wasn't about to tell his sister about his frog failure, because, quite honestly, she was a girl.. and girls don't like frogs. (Or so his friends had told him.)

Jaz finished up with the science table on a high note, and with a grin, she left Myles to work on his own experiments, and grabbed the phone to call Colin, Elsa, and Miki with the good news that she had finished her aspiration. She couldn't afford a party line call, however, so each one had to be called separately.

Bennie also arrived home with a triumphant smile on his face. The purchase of the guitar had paid off, and he ended up getting a full time gig at the lounge. He wasn't a headliner... yet. But he would be. You just watch. He didn't bother telling any of his family about the promotion, because apparently he didn't feel they needed to know that any more than they needed to know about the financial crisis he was still in. Even with the promotion bonus, there was no way he was going to be able to pay the bills next week.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Phoenix met up with Max, and the two of them chatted in the rain for a couple hours. Sure it was cold.. but there were plans that had to be made.

You see, they had become Partners in Crime.... which meant they had to start planning pranks. The first prank planned was to stuff some geeks into lockers - and there was a ton of things they had to work out before tomorrow so the plan could go off without either of them getting into trouble for it.

After a while (and definitely past his bedtime), Phoenix had his first best friend. He and Max swore an oath to stay friends forever, no matter what. With a grin on his face, Phoenix headed home and went straight to bed - luckily without getting caught. Things couldn't go better for him right now... and tomorrow... was going to be EPIC!!

Part of the reason he hadn't gotten caught being out past curfew was because both Bennie and Marnie were busy. Bennie was practicing on his guitar (to everyone's horror)... and Marnie was busy talking in serious tones to Jaz. Phoenix clearly didn't care what his sister had done this time, and shrugged, sneaking past them to his bed.

Jaz hadn't done anything wrong.. this time. But she was being kept home from school the next day, whether she liked it or not. Tomorrow, apparently was her doctor's appointment, and she was trying not to worry. She had no idea what might happen at a doctor's appointment, because the last one she had been to had been before she could remember. She thought about asking Marnie what might happen to her, but Marnie seemed to be in a "mood" and Jaz (wisely) kept her mouth shut. Trying not to worry, she crawled into bed and attempted to sleep... but even with all the good things that had happened that day, sleep was a long time coming for poor Jaz.

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