Today was a better day than yesterday.

To our utter amazement, the Mexican that came (two hours early without calling first) actually did fix the broken outlet. And without breaking anything else in the process, too. He offered to do caulking, and whatever cosmetic work we may want, but we just want these people out of our lives. We started doing their work for them, so we may as well finish.

Until they break, it is sooo nice to have both a washer and a dryer. Large capacity ones that can be run simultaneously. The comforters fit in the washer just fine. There’s even a bit of extra room. They’re still a bitch to dry, though, cuz you gotta keep on pulling it out and rearranging it so spots that are still wet can dry.

All that just to get a washer and a dryer. It’s ridiculous! This is what I mean about God making us pay dearly for the everyday things in life. Why couldn’t we have just bought the fucking things, plugged them in and used them? Why did it have to be such a big deal?

We talked to Mary and we’re still on for having her, Dave and Mom visit tomorrow. They’ll be here around 2:00. We bought extra water and soda, and even some sugar-free (she’s a diabetic) Jell-O for Ma if she wants it. Mary asked what snacks I like. Since I’m obviously not going to be starting my diet, along with Tom, till Monday, I told her cheese puffs would be fine. Then the mice and rats can have some, too. She said she’s been excited about coming to see the place all week. That’s nice to know, cuz I was worried they’d be so bored. Just because I’m excited about the house, the dolls, etc., doesn’t mean they should be. It all depends on people’s individual tastes. Since Mary and Mom are afraid of mice and rats, I won’t be taking them out while they’re here.

Anyway, I know it’s stupid and a waste of time since diets don’t work for me (especially at this age), but Tom and I both want to lose 20 pounds. He should be around 170-180 pounds but says that if he can get to 200 pounds, he’ll be happy. Ideally, I should be 100 pounds, but I’ll settle for 105 pounds. Even 110 pounds.

Not without nearly starving myself, though. Then, it’s a whole new battle just to keep the damn weight off. Things have changed, that’s for sure. I used to be able to effortlessly lose weight and keep it off effortlessly, too. Not anymore! Anyway, I know I’ll never be under 115 pounds again, but it’s nice to dream.

Ma’s getting an adjustable bed, which means we’ll be getting back the bed we gave her. Actually, she bought the bed for Tom when he was in the Crystal Creek apartments, then took it to the house, then we gave it to her when she moved into Mary’s and we got the air bed. So, this will be one less expense for us. All we’ll need to buy for that room is a nightstand.

I got up at 10:00 today and had I slept five minutes longer, the rumbles would’ve woken me up. As far as I know, I’m finally free to go off-schedule for a while after tomorrow. Finally! After six months. I spent over a decade trying to keep a schedule, just to end up looking forward to hanging up the alarm clock for a while. Who knows how often I’ll be woken up by the rumbles, though? What is this? Is God like - well, if neighbors and stereos driving by aren’t gonna be waking her up, hell, I’ll just shake her whole damn house then and wake her up that way. Desperate. Totally desperate.

Today I worked my ass off for a good eight hours. I vacuumed, dusted, mopped and did laundry, so now that we’re finally caught up on the laundry, which feels so good, and now that the house is clean, I’m gonna relax with a movie and do some reading. I haven’t worked at all on my story this week, but that will change. Next week I’ll really tackle it and make up for lost time.

I bathed tonight and my hair’s clean, so tomorrow all I’ll have to do is tidy up the animals so they don’t stink, and maybe run some dishes off.

My lungs are doing fine, but of course, my preventative inhaler is an accumulative medicine, so it’ll take time to wear out of my system. What’s there to prevent, though? I don’t smoke, so I shouldn’t get any worse than I am now, as I said before. Although I don’t wheeze anymore, I may get over-the-counter inhalers, which Tom asked if I wanted, as long as they don’t cost a fortune. We’ll see. I’m just sick of doctors, prescriptions, and the whole incompetent system. Not only did Cigna give us the wrong address, but Dr. Olssen never called back or had her secretary call back. That tells me something - a typical doctor who doesn’t give a shit. Any doctor who doesn’t call you back shouldn’t be in practice, but sadly, that’s how it is today. If you can get a doctor to return your phone calls, you are very lucky.

Now Tom’s switching insurance again to Aetna. For what? So he can have the same problems with the same kinds of incompetent people? All he’ll get is the run-around, while one person says A and the other says B. Everyone’s so lazy and unwilling to do any work. You call someone and instead of them dealing with you, they refer you to someone else who refers you to someone else, and so on and so forth, and where do you get? After spending hours playing phone and feeling like a football people are tossing down the line and you get false information. As in nowhere.