Again Maliheh was on my visitor list, but not in my blog. At least not the one I can track. Is she taunting me? Reading back for a good laugh? For something to “get” me with? Or could there be some freak chance she may miss me and be reminiscing? Whatever it is, I refuse to let God use anyone as pawns to make our lives miserable here as He did with the same batch of blacks and Hispanics in both Phoenix and Maricopa. This is the third place Tom and I have owned since being together and it will be the first to be unmarred by that kind of drama. Online trolls and threats from trolls’ evil moms, pigs or people pretending to be pigs is one thing, but it is not going to spill out of the virtual world and into the real one.

I’m starting to break records for missing days where I don’t post journal entries. So here’s one saying that I’m overworked and sometimes annoyed with all I have to do, mostly thanks to the previous owners, but loving every second of it. There’s so much more to do than when we moved to Maricopa. Since we were the first ones to live there were no cabinets, drawers and closets to clear out, nor did we need to change any locks.

Wish I’d taken better notes along the way cuz I know I’m not going to remember every little detail I’d love to document and share, but I’ll do my best. I figure that I won’t forget the things that are most important. Well, of the ones I can publicly share, anyway.

Shared some pics on a couple of sites and plan to take more in stages as the house progresses, including shots of around the park itself. The park you’d never know you were in! It looks like any old classy, beautiful neighborhood with on-site homes. I was surprised to see someone with a gay flag. Not something you usually expect with older people. I just hope history doesn’t repeat itself! If it does, these quiet neighbors will turn noisy soon enough or they’ll be replaced with noisy people. At least they can’t be “noisy” in the way they can be in the mainstream. That’s why we came here.

Tom saw the guy next door take off on his bike this morning when he was going out to the store. He said he was clearly older than him. People usually only move from here if they die or need to go into assisted living, so if he can ride a bike, he shouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. Haven’t seen his wife yet.

Slept much better the last two nights (which were almost days given where my schedule’s at now) and I don’t know if it’s because it was the weekend and there was less traffic, I changed sound machines, or I’ve gotten used to it. Tom thinks I’m mostly getting used to it. I hope so cuz that’s the only thing I don’t like is all the traffic. It’s better than people living back there, though. The traffic’s gotten pretty predictable. It’s mostly heavy in the morning but tapers off by noon – the retirees take off to run errands or visit friends and those still working head to work.

We got pleated blackout shades for the bedroom in Sandstone and they really do a great job of blocking light. Would be better with blackout drapes added as well, which I plan to eventually get. Her drapes aren’t ugly, but they’d clash with my rose comforter and things like that. Pink carpet would clash with things too, so I realize, and therefore I’ll probably go with a crème or a beige colored carpet when it comes time to redo that. The walls will be painted and smoothed before the carpet so we don’t have to stress about dripping paint on brand-new carpet. Some of the dark paneling actually looks good. They didn’t paint the beams in the living room’s cathedral ceilings and the contrast is actually nice. I’m not going to paint or resurface the kitchen cabinets and counters; just redo the floor. The floor’s not ugly, but it’s dull and worn. The bathrooms and laundry room floors are in better condition, but still a bit dull and worn. I want to personalize as much as I can to my styles and colors. Luckily for me, Tom doesn’t give a shit what I choose, LOL. That’s more of a woman’s thing anyway.

The boring dark brown carpet isn’t frayed but the padding beneath it is shot.

I’m ok with the 3 different wallpaper designs in the kitchen and bathrooms so I’ll probably leave them as they are.

This woman was weird, though. Not only was she apparently very big on cooking (she’s got almost everything you could find in a kitchen), but there were pieces of dried onions in a wicker basket in a cabinet. I wonder if she put them there to control odors cuz I noticed a strange smell there myself. I don’t care for the smell of onions either, though, so I dumped the green onion bulbs I put in a jar of water. I read that if you cut the bulbs off and soak them in water, you’ll have a whole new batch in 12 days. They really were starting to sprout, but like I said, I didn’t appreciate the smell.

There’s so, so much more to write, but I gotta get back to work tackling the kitchen. As much as all this work is killing my feet, it’s keeping me from eating!