There has been an annoyance here every single day this week so far. Monday the water was off. Yesterday there was tons of landscaping seemingly everywhere. Today the water was off again for the THIRD time in less than two weeks, and they tore out a dead birch tree in the common area. The guy told me it would take 20 minutes, but it really took closer to three hours and the noise was deafening. 

I saw Bob and Virginia pull in and went out to warn them that the water was off. I ended up talking to Virginia because Bob had already gone into the house. According to her, they’ve been doing this since they moved in here in 1988. I was like, OMFG, you’ve got to be kidding me! There is NO excuse to be playing these fucking water games for that long, and for the first time in the two years we’ve been here I’m wondering if we should move. She said they used to call and tell them when they would be turning the water off, but that’s not the point. The point is that they’re doing it unnecessarily whether they tell us upfront or not. It’s like they do it just to fuck with us. So I really have to be sure not to shower or wash clothes or dishes during the daytime. 

I love our house, and the park is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but for the amount of money we’re paying, we should have water all the time. When we were told that they sometimes turn the water off upon coming to this place, we thought that meant once or twice a year. Not once or twice a month. It’s fucking ridiculous. 

I just can’t imagine where else we would go, but I would rather save money in an older place that’s not as nice in order to have water full-time. The only problem is that trees die everywhere, home renovations occur everywhere, and transformers need to be replaced everywhere, too. So if we moved, we might be trading in one problem for another and that new problem could be worse. The plan was to stay here at least till he retired unless we ever got so broke again that we lost the place. The place is quieter in the summer overall, but I’m sick of the water games and I’m sick of the loud projects. Haven’t heard any individuals sawing or hammering in several months, but that’s more of the winter thing. 

My leg muscles are sore as hell today after waking up muscles I’m not used to working by doing that exercise video yesterday. It’s a reminder that running and riding don’t work every single leg muscle. Despite being sore I did today’s cleaning and even some running sprints on the treadmill. I have been deep cleaning the house in sections throughout the week to get rid of as much dander as possible, and today was the first morning I didn’t wake up congested. The day after she left I was okay once I was awake, but still woke up congested until today. 

It takes less than two minutes of running at 5 MPH to burn 20 calories. I’m trying to do this every half hour to an hour to see if it really makes a difference. I noticed that when I was doing scattered running bursts when I would play with Simone it seemed to boost my metabolism even more. I’m also trying not to eat over 1200-1300 cals a day. That part is a lot harder than the sprints. 

My dreams have been too vague to be worth mentioning, but I can say that I haven’t gotten much done on today's chapter yet. I hate the middle of stories. That's where it gets tough to keep enough interesting things going. Setting the stage at the beginning and bringing it all together at the end is much easier. 

To help make up for our frustration is knowing that we’re about to get some Amazon goodies, even though we’re not impressed with any of the prime stuff that’s on sale today. He’s getting 4 things and I’m getting 4 things, plus a household item. 

His goodies are electronics-related. I’m getting a large colorized rat photo sticker, eight small rat silhouette stickers, an anime doll, and a really gorgeous mannequin head. This one has dark glass eyes and a swivel head. She also comes with a black wig and a brunette wig. Great deal for $33! 

The household item is a toilet paper bar for the second bath. I hate old-fashioned toilet paper holders. As soon as I got the one where you just slide the rolls on down in Arizona, I have been spoiled where that’s concerned ever since, LOL.