I forgot to say that the day they were finishing up the carpet, we spied on the back, and it looked like people may now be in the house furthest from us (originally, I thought it might be the other way around). These houses and their immediate surroundings look like total dumps. There was a beat-up car outside with two adults sitting out front of the furthest house. I couldn’t get a make on their color/race being at a distance, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were Mexicans. They may’ve been workers too, and not residents, but it’s still too soon for these renters to be problem enough to know better (till I torch their places). Still, I accept losing the bet, which I had misunderstood the terms of. The bet means I can’t get any dolls till May, not that I can’t get anything at all till June like I thought was the case.

Anyway, it was pretty funny how I insisted I could hear the neighbor’s music the day we pulled in while the carpet layers were there when it turned out it was coming from our own house! Funny, huh? Tom sure thought so. Yeah, the carpet people had a portable radio going.

Here’s something even funnier: I spend over a decade wishing I could keep a schedule, and now I can’t wait to get off of one! It’ll probably be another couple of weeks before I can.

Tom just went a little nuts in his sleep talking again and saying “I’ll check it out for you. I’m a skeptic. I can’t believe what you say.”

Later...

I really hope I don’t need to buy a third journal, but I doubt it. We should definitely be in by the time this one’s done, but boy let me tell ya - if we ain’t, we’re gonna be in court suing these people!

He talked with the well driller today, who says the well will be done this week. Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it. And what about APS and Gravity finishing his job?

He called the mail carrier and was told there are no mail services on our street, so we can either apply for a delivery extension, put our mailbox on Bitter Root, which is too far to walk to, or just keep our PO Box. We’ll probably just do a PO Box, and remember, now that I’m there, the area will build up quickly enough so our application for a delivery extension will be accepted. As it is now, though, there are not enough houses between us and the two rentals, but once there’s us, four rentals, plus houses across the street and to our right, an extension will be no problem.

I definitely want to check out the land to our right and in front. I want to find out who owns it and what the story with it is. It’s not for sale now that I know of, but give it 6-12 months and I’ll bet it will be.

At the trailer Sunday morning, we were locked in. I couldn’t get the damn door open. Tom loosened some screws and fixed the knob, though. While we were still trapped, he jokingly said, “It’s kind of scary being trapped in here with me, huh?”

I joked back saying, “Yeah, I’m afraid you might rape me.”

The night before this I nearly blinded myself in one eye with a clip that broke and flew into my eye. Miraculously, I had no bruising on the skin, but it did bruise a corner of my eyeball.

Since now’s the time to mail something and hope that Tom doesn’t find out about it, by having the front desk mail it, I’m gonna send the H’s a wacky letter. He still may find out about it if they suspect us, then contact Hilda to contact us about it, but I doubt it. If they do, they do, though. I’d still rather not hand an envelope addressed to them to Tom to mail, cuz he’ll only try to talk me out of it. Meanwhile, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, but if he does find out, then I’ll listen to him lecture me for an hour about it and I’ll deal with him being paranoid over it till 2005.

Later...

Last night I called the front desk about the room next door, but not to complain, since they weren’t that noisy and since it wouldn’t have done me any good if they were. I did it to see if I could find out when they’d be leaving. It sounded like the same guy who I complained to about that old crone on the 1st floor (we’re now on the end of the 2nd floor directly above our usual room) and I was surprised he gave me any info. He let me know they were leaving today, which eased my nerves. I didn’t think they’d leave after just one night. Someone’s door woke me up at 7:15, but I’m almost sure it wasn’t theirs, cuz fortunately, their door’s not right smack next to ours. It was probably the door across the hall or the outside stairway door. Unless they arrived late, no one was above us last night, cuz as is my habit lately, I call the surrounding rooms to see what’s empty and what’s not. So far, as far as I know, no one’s above or next door to us now (who cares about below), but someone’s across from us.

The maid called today wanting to know if we wanted our room cleaned. That was a stupid question. Why would we have our DO NOT DISTURB sign out if we did?

Later...

I’ve become sort of friendly with one of the girls at the front desk. She’s the one who helped me get my popcorn that got stuck in the vending machine. She smiled when she saw me earlier making popcorn and asked how long I was staying. I told her about our situation. I stopped by the front desk to chat some more with her just now when I went to get coffee when a man came in saying he needed four rooms. Four rooms! That’s a lot of fucking kids! Next door’s still empty but I’m sure some of them will be unloaded in there any sec.

Last night, for reasons I can only guess, a suite door was left with its door guard in place so anyone could walk right in just like I did. Their suites are identical to the one we were in at the La Quinta, only it was laid out differently. We’re in a regular room with two doubles, a dresser, and a table. This had a king with a table, dresser, couch, and micro/fridge. Since it was on this floor, I used its microwave. I also helped myself to some toiletries. I could’ve made free long-distance calls. However, there’s no one I care to call that’s long-distance.

Tom may be coming down with a cold. I hope not. It could just be exhaustion, though.

My trip to Melanie’s was a waste of time and gas, but at least I don’t have to go back for 8 weeks! The doctor didn’t even tighten the retainers. All he did was look at them and ask if they fit OK.

Back at the Fairfield till Wednesday. God’s up to one of his favorite obsessions concerning me - sticking kids next to me. I was in between CDs when I heard a kid scream and felt the vibration of its footsteps. I peeked out into the hall (this was just after he left for work) and saw a guy with a ton of luggage heading next door. I never actually saw any kids, so I couldn’t say how many are over there. He smiled at me and we went into our rooms. Thank God these walls are thicker than the apartment walls at the Vista, Crystal Creek, and the dive in Snottsdale! Although I’ve heard a few bumps and bangs, they haven’t been as noisy as I thought they’d be. The question is - will I be able to get up in the morning when I say so, or will I have to when they say so? No kid is gonna sleep till 8:30, and you know the parents won’t give a shit if they run around like crazy.

I’d like to say that they’ll be settling down for bed soon and gone for good in the morning, but I know better. One look at the amount of luggage they had told me they’d be here for more than one night. They’re not in the middle of their trip. Here is their final destination. If they were coming/going from some other state, they wouldn’t have that much luggage cuz you wouldn’t need so much for one night. They’ve come to visit someone in the area for at least a few days which is why they had so much crap. Besides, I know what God would have in store for me.

This is also not a very good sign of the “end times,” so to speak, signaling our final hotel stay. I still don’t see how the well could be done, along with APS’s job, and Gravity’s job of connecting the well/septic by Wednesday so we can be in by the 1st. Tom promises to hire new people, though, if they don’t stick to the contract.

If Tom’s right, and if he’s not getting his hopes up for nothing, this will be the last night we sleep in the trailer. If gunshots don’t wake me up sooner than I’d like, then he will, but it’s OK.

The fucking idiots sent the well permit to our old address so that’s part of the reason for the delay. According to the way Tom’s figured things out between the well driller and APS, we should be in the house Wednesday.

The skirting is now on and it really makes the house look better.

Also, the carpet’s down. It’s darker than I thought; sort of like faded denim, but it’s better than brown. I like it.

I found yet more problems, and I’m telling you - there’s no fucking excuse for this! Those fucking goddamn lazy, half-assed Mexicans!

They installed the things for the outdoor lights crookedly, and the utility door handle does not fit right. There’s a large gap in the door.

We went over to the house after the girl and guy who did the carpet left, and we discussed clean-up and preparation jobs, as well as did a little work over there. When we can, I’m gonna sweep the floors and vacuum and he’s gonna wipe down the walls and counters of all their dust.

Today we set up the fridge, oven, and dishwasher, and peeled stickers off of things in the bathrooms. I also took down the curtains I plan to replace.

Anyway, I hope Tom’s not jumping the gun, cuz he’s got a room reserved for us for three nights at the Fairfield. Being there on a Friday night/Saturday morning was just as bad as I figured it’d be. I should’ve known too, that just because it started off quiet, it wouldn’t stay that way. Not once it got well past check-in time. They ended up pretty packed and the early morning door-slamming was pretty wild. I’m amazed they let me sleep till 8:30 like I did. Shortly afterward, we screwed.

There was nothing to say he wouldn’t or couldn’t cum, based on his actions, but then like usual, he had an excuse. A cramp in his back was the excuse of choice this time. Fine, but why make excuses, Tom? Just be yourself.

We decided to check into the Fairfield so we could take showers. It’ll also give me a break from being shaken awake. First he shook me awake, then I woke up just because, and then a fly landed on me and buzzed me awake just before 8:00. I couldn’t have slept much later anyway since the carpet people started their work.

We got here at 11:00 and we were supposed to be on the 2nd floor, the one with the lazy Mexican who doesn’t change sheets (this place has three floors), but the room wasn’t ready, so now we’re back on the 1st. This time, though, instead of being at the end of the hall by the exit door, we’re up in the middle by the lobby. The little laundry room is just across the hall. The laundry room where they wash sheets is across the hall, too. I thought it might be very noisy here. Especially with it being a Friday night, but it hasn’t been too bangy so far. Since it’s the Thanksgiving weekend and not a regular weekend, they may not be as booked up.

The room was really musty when we first came in, but Tom opened the window and we aired it out. I didn’t even know these windows opened.

He went to see his mom since he hasn’t seen her in a couple of weeks.

There was no alarm clock in here. Tom can get me up by 8:30 tomorrow if nothing beats him to it, but I thought it’d be nice to tell time, so I got one at the front desk. Oddly enough, there were no outlets behind the nightstand, so I plugged it in by this table I’m writing on.

I also had to hunt down the maid for a DO NOT DISTURB sign again, but I still like this place the best.

Later...

Tom’s still not back yet. I napped for about an hour, after a shower and doing a little load of laundry.

That musty smell returned, and I noticed the floor by the sink was damp, so I think there’s a leak somewhere. Yeah, I’m a magnet for leaks. We both are. I’m also good at sending out those infertility vibes too, cuz as it turns out, none of these mice were ever pregnant. How amazing too, seeing that they were in a cage with males.

Tom won our bet about it being quiet behind us, although he won by default. No one’s been over there as far as I can tell. Still, I won’t get anything till June. The bet was that I go without any more dolls and stuff like that for six months. I’ll keep my end of the bet, but I wish he’d quit lying and learn to keep his end of things when it came to sex! As you know, I no longer want a kid, but when the guy comes out and says he’s gonna cum regularly, this really burns me up. Not just cuz he’s lied about this before a zillion times, but cuz we don’t even screw regularly to begin with. How can he cum regularly when we don’t screw regularly? Again, part-time, cumless sex is fine 90% of the time, but why bullshit me about it? He is how he is, and like I said before, any guy supposedly unafraid to go to a doctor about it but doesn’t wants to be the way he is.

Later...

Tom got in shortly after I last wrote. With him were a birthday card and a check from Mom. It was a very pretty card, too. Bright and colorful.

The people next door are getting on my nerves and believe it or not, these aren’t kids either. They’re just as rude and immature, though. Totally childish, and fucking males! The filthy pigs always have to go about things in such a forceful, macho way. Maybe I shouldn’t talk, for I’m just as aggressive, but I guess that except for my husband (or else I’d be alone forever or having little flings with women), I’ll always be a die-hard sexist.

I was reading and Tom was napping when a cock, accompanied by his woman, knocked so fucking hard and loud on next door’s door. Poor Tom nearly fell out of bed and I myself nearly jumped through the ceiling. I thought for sure someone was knocking on our door, but it was next door. If he’d done it again I’d have really let him have it. Meanwhile, it appears to be an older couple staying in the room. I guess they recently checked in. I saw the old lady go across to the washer, and she’d gone back and forth slamming the door several times when I decided to take the matter up with the front desk. Unless he just said he talked to them, which very well could be the case, it’s had its usual effect - nothing. However, I don’t chew out or beat up old people in the way that I would with a younger person. Because it’s still early and because we don’t live here and because she’s old, I’ll let her annoy me by rudely slamming her door. If she isn’t finished with the laundry and the door-slamming by 10:00, then I’ll go directly to her, old or not. I could kick myself for going to the front desk, though. Why do I even bother? Why do I waste my time? Again, you got a problem with someone, you want results, you gotta go to them. Also, I still can’t figure out for the life of me why people can’t handle such simple, reasonable complaints without getting so damn hot and bothered. It’s just a door-slamming complaint. I’m not saying their family has to die nor am I requesting their execution. Everyone’s so damn sensitive. So you close your door a little quieter next time you go in and out - big fucking deal. What’s wrong with a little common courtesy?

Instead of complaining, I should’ve yanked all her clothes out of the washer when she went back into her room, but that probably would’ve led to more commotion from over there.

Signing in on a very boring Thanksgiving. There’s just nothing to do. Nothing to do, no place to go.

Tom got up a little before 11:00 last night and stayed in the car till morning so I could sleep without him shaking the trailer. Remember, we’ve got a total of four nights here. I slept in till 10:30. I know it may fuck up my schedule, but I really needed a day in my life to get up on my own. It’s been over four months now of waking up sooner than I planned to get up, or to the alarm. I can’t wait to take a break from early wake-up calls and alarms! Last night’s reason for waking up was that I was absolutely freezing! It sure does get colder out here, if not by much. Trying to heat a little flimsy trailer’s hard. It heats up quickly and well, but two minutes after the heat stops, it’s fucking freezing in here again!

I expected to hear a lot of gunfire this morning, but I didn’t. That’s the only other thing I don’t like for while we’re still in the trailer (we shouldn’t hear it in the house); the goddamn weekend gunshots. They hunt quails and shit like that in the mornings and late afternoons.

I’m not sure if anyone’s behind us or not. I heard a dog, which may’ve been a Doberman, barking from that direction, for a few minutes, but I was pretty sure the Doberman belonged to one of the workers. Unless it’s one of the workers moving in there, or the barks were coming from Dan’s or somewhere else.

The only thing I’ve heard so far, and it’s so soft that I can’t hear it inside the trailer with the windows open, so I sure as hell couldn’t hear it in the house. The house toward the front of us, actually, in front of next door, is playing a radio. Like I said, it’s so soft I can’t even make out what kind of music it is. It’s an old, baseless radio. All I hear is the faint beat of the drums and I can tell when the DJ is talking, too. Although this surprises me, since people aren’t supposed to want to draw attention to themselves out here, I’m not worried. It is a holiday, after all, and who knows? Maybe they’re renters.

I wish it would rain for a change. It hasn’t rained in months. I want to see what it’s like with water running down our washes. That oughta be so cool having a little river run by our house when it rains.

The house’s 6” thick walls and thermo-treated windows really insulate well. It finds a temperature average to maintain. It doesn’t get as warm as it is in the daytime or as cold as it is at night. It’s 55º in there lately. Our highs lately are 70º and our lows are 40º.

We stopped at the grocery store in Sun Lakes before coming to the land, which was pretty crowded being the day before Thanksgiving. If there’s anything I hate about old people, it’s that they drive too slow and rudely block isles in stores when they stop to gab with one another.

During the daylight, it was as quiet as usual, but with the onset of night, the dogs are beginning to stir up.

Tom and I made a bet. Since we know at least one of those trailers in back is now occupied, the holiday changes when the noise starts. If it weren’t for tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I’d say we were a week or two away from their antics/noise, but I guarantee it’ll be noisy over there tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll hear from next door and maybe Dan too, but in back, I bet Tom nothing for me for six months on their barking, screaming and music. Nothing for me, meaning no dolls or anything like that.

Nothing anyone around here can do can compare to how that Mexican household in Phoenix will be and I thank God I am not there to have to hear it. Man is it gonna be a circus over there! I hope the H’s are planning on trying to have a nice, quiet relaxing Thanksgiving cuz they ain’t getting it. I know everyone will go to the freeloaders’ and that they won’t go to someone else’s, and I know there’ll be music from the house and car stereos. Thank you, God, that I don’t have to be forced to be a part of it and listen to it for 12 hours.

The factory still hasn’t called us about outside steps, the globe, cleaning, or a final walk-through, and APS hasn’t been out. What else is new, huh? But the heat pump and carpet are finally being installed. The guy “says” he was putting it in today, but I don’t think he and his partner can do it today. I think they’ll have to come back Friday along with the carpet layers. They took our unwanted furnace out, by the way, too. As for the carpet, the padding’s down, but the carpet won’t be laid till Friday.

Actually, come to think of it, the dogs have been quieter lately. Maybe the colder weather has to do with it.

I’m doing a mini-load of laundry now.

About four days ago, the weather here turned rather wintry. It’s only making it up to the mid-60s, and even in the afternoon it’s nippy. Especially when it’s windy.

Tom called Hilda today and the idiot still doesn’t know where our well permit is. Tom reminded her that our first payment is due on the first, and he said her response to that was, “Then we have a week to get it done.”

Yeah, right! I’ll believe it when I see it. She also says Gravity’s gonna come out and connect the well to the septic once we ever get the damn thing, but this is even harder to believe.

In other areas of the house set up - Brian’s supposed to take care of the skirting, and someone’s supposed to lay the carpet this week.

Our storage bin’s coming out next Monday and the furniture will be delivered on the 30th.

Tom got a plug to fill in the drop-out in the electrical box and he called APS to tell them it’s ready for a meter, as well as an inspection.

We still have to get the washer, dryer, trash compactor, computer desk (for my office), entertainment center, and the project and animal tables. We discussed the possibility of building our own entertainment center since we like being creative and making things.

The kitchen sink has a spot where you can add either a hose spray or an instant hot water spigot. I think I’ll take the hot water. We also have to get a water softener, but we may not need a filter. That’ll depend on how it tastes.

As with most hotels and other businesses, they have fake plants around the lobby, which is usually deserted. I could easily swipe a couple of little ones, and I thought about it, but they’re not that great. Just green leaves. No colorful flowers.

Besides going to a drive-through and to Circle K, we made two stops.

We went to the trailer and house first, spying on the back houses first. What dumpy trailers these are. They’re double-wide, but according to George, only 40’ long.

There’s definitely still no one living in the furthest one yet, but there was a Doberman chained by it. It was there when the workers that are usually there were there, so maybe it’s one of theirs. What is it with people taking their dogs to work, anyway? Amazingly, though, not once did I hear it bark. Dogs do tend to be quieter out there during the daytime, though.

I took care of the animals while he took care of the plug, and even brought Scuttles to run around in the house. He didn’t explore that much, just made a few corner duties. I wish rats could be trained like cats to use little boxes. It’d be so cool to have them run around loose, but they’d chew everything up, of course.

At Walgreens, we got my meds and some toys. They replaced the Flovent with my old stuff - Vanceril. Well good, cuz the Flovent’s not very good. Got my Albuterol as usual too, and that’s it. I only have two things I take.

He got a yo-yo, and just like he said, he’s super good at it.

I got a pocket Simon game where you match color sequences. Also, a Barbie I’ve wanted for my collection for a while with a pink, satiny, glittery dress with a jagged hem. She has a pull-string with a pink plastic star on the end that you pull so she spins at the waist and makes bubbles with wands you clip to her wrists. I didn’t get it for this purpose, though. I just liked the dress. Besides, my fan can make bubbles a lot better than she can.

Later...

Gave Andy another hotel call. I’m not calling him too often cuz I don’t want to drive the poor guy crazy and possibly even into spending money he needs on getting his number changed. I doubt if he’d go to those extremes, though. Andy can certainly handle prank calls better than anyone I know. You’re talking about a phone addict here who loves to do the same thing.

I picked up and he was quiet for the first minute. Then, after a sigh of frustration, he did what I thought he’d have done by now - chewed disgustingly in my ear. I had the fan on, so I couldn’t tell if he was alone or not. All he said was “Don’t hang up. I know you want to hear me eat. This chocolate pudding is so good. I have chocolate swirl, too. Everyone loves chocolate. Everyone loves Raymond, too.” Then he hung up. No, I don’t know who Raymond is or if he even knows a Raymond. Bruce, though, might be the gay guy from Circle K. I’m not sure.

Saturday, when I was in the house, I saw a US West truck, plus some other worker’s truck in back. One was driving up as I approached the window, and I watched someone get out of the truck and shut the door and I never heard the door shut. It would have to be slammed hard while it was dead quiet to be heard in the house, but unfortunately, music doesn’t have to be all that loud to be heard just fine in the house.

Later that day, we noticed a small U-Haul back there, and from what we saw, someone had to have stayed there overnight Saturday night, but they were quiet. This is the house closest to us, I’m talking about. The one I’m pretty sure is where the single guy’s going. I wasn’t surprised they were quiet for two reasons. One - their dog’s not here yet. Two - I noticed that people usually wait till they get settled first, then a week or two after moving is when they draw attention to themselves and rub their presence in on the neighborhood.

A gray van I’d never seen before went by our house but I couldn’t see where they came from. I waved and they waved back. There were at least two people, and the passenger may’ve been a fat adult female. Couldn’t tell too well with the sun’s glare.

Saturday we checked out a road that we thought would take off a good 30 miles or so when going to Melanie, but it was in really shitty condition. However, the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful and made our land look dull. It had an awesome mountain view with tons of saguaros one way, then in the other direction, you could see a town far off in the distance. I’ll bet the distant lights at night are gorgeous. You can see that and beautiful mountains from our place too, but nothing like this. And we’re too low for saguaros to grow naturally, although they’ll be fine once we plant them. Saguaros occur in the higher desert. This area, though, wasn’t for sale, had treacherous roads, and no electricity around for miles.

We’re supposedly screwing sometime today, but I’m sure there’ll be some excuse to get out of it, or some problem with it if we do get around to it.

Later...

So, was I right about him having a mid-cycle excuse? Yup. He was too tired. Figures, huh? Well, I know I can’t conceive, but he obviously doesn’t, so from now on I’m gonna try to hide from him just where I am in my cycle so he doesn’t have to get all wound up for nothing. It’ll be easier to do once we get in the house, cuz he’ll seldom be in the bathroom I’ll be using, so I can hide pads and tampon wrappers easier. My cycle isn’t always predictable, but it’s close enough, even if I have erratic spotting at odd times.

I tested him earlier. He passed just like I knew he would, but even so, I still like testing people from time to time, even if I know what their reaction’s gonna be. I just like to see it periodically.

I said that maybe we could bring women into our sex life, and he seemed to truly be disinterested and he said he didn’t want that. He wanted me (just part-time, not that that’s not good enough for me). When I told him I was testing him, he said he thought I was testing to see what I could do. Hope, not at all. Women are fun to fantasize about, but ever since I met Tom, I’ve never had the desire to act on any fantasies. This sort of surprises me, despite how much I love Tom, but then again, love and lust are two different things, so I guess I really should be surprised. As I’ve said, sex is a tiny part of this relationship, as far as I’m concerned, and I love Tom way more than I lust for him. I’m glad this is how I feel, though, and wouldn’t be happy with someone I lusted for but did not love. That would’ve been fine in the past, but not now.

I have a lot to be grateful for. Not just that Tom doesn’t think with his dick, not just that I quit wanting a kid and don’t have the sexual drive I used to have, but that I am finally healthy and happy. I may still get tight at times, but look how long it’s been since I’ve had to go to the ER! God’s blessed us with a great house, nice stuff, and he’s finally allowed me to quit smoking and get on a schedule. If only he’d let me lose weight now! Well, he may choose not to help me with the hunger part of it, but I have to at least not eat. I have to face reality. I’m not in my 20s anymore and I never will be again, so I can only have a bite a day if I want my weight to be somewhat reasonable, and this is the way it’s always gonna be.

Tom got to the hotel right before 9:00 this morning and had me get him up at 1:00. We went to the trailer, and oh my God! Even in the middle of the afternoon, it was chilly as all hell and we had to run the heat for a while. It felt like late August-early September in New England.

The plug he got for the electrical box was the wrong size, so he’ll have to get another one. At least it didn’t cost even a buck.

He measured walls and windows for drapes and murals, and we worked on Jade some more. It wasn’t very easy. The legs set great, but stuffing the body was harder than it sounded, cuz we had to get things evened out and proportioned. I wonder if the cloth body, which is what you fill, is too big for this doll. There’s a lot of bunched material, so it looks like she’s got skinny legs with a fat ass. It doesn’t have to be perfect, though, cuz clothes cover the non-porcelain parts of dolls. We just have to get it close enough so her dress doesn’t appear to have a funny-shaped body underneath.

Hey, I didn’t write about my new cactus clock and paper. We went to a touristy Walgreen and I got a cactus clock, but they didn’t have the cactus plate I wanted as well. I got paper for letters to Paula with pretty watercolor splashes throughout it. I’ll keep a few sheets for myself too, and maybe use some for those lying control freaks in Florida. I still intend to mail them pictures once the house is set up, but I’ll have to use the back.

I thought I’d write and keep from getting overly behind, cuz I can’t focus on reading right now. Writing requires me to focus too, but in a different way.

It appears Gravity’s skipped out on us. I hope he knows this means he won’t be getting paid. Since Gravity won’t haul his blubber out and finish his job, Tom’s gonna get the plug for the electric box so we can have heat Wednesday night and sleep in the house for the first night ever (we’re now at the Fairfield for three days. Same room as last time)! We’ll be able to heat the place, but we’ll have to go to the trailer to the bathroom since the damn well’s still not drilled.

Brian strapped the house down with metal straps that attach to a 3’ pole that he slowly drills into the ground with some really cool tool.

Tom and I discussed plans for outside the house - where the pool will go, the deck, stuff we want to plant, and we even discussed getting a couple of horses. They stink and are more work to take care of than rats, mice and guinea pigs, but if it’s what we want, we can handle it. Tom’s quite an expert on horses, so I can learn from him just like he’s learned from me about things I know.

As I probably mentioned, I had begun growing my bangs out. However, it looked so geeky, so I cut my bangs back again earlier this evening.

I got another sitting music doll on the 19th (Stephanie) at the same store I got Melanie at. So far, I’m shocked to say it still works. We got it in an awesome grocery store in Sun Lakes. Sun Lakes and its stores are great, cuz just like with Sun City, it’s a retirement area, where everyone’s old, white and quiet. They just really annoy you with their 10 MPH driving speed.

Stephanie’s got auburn hair, blue eyes, and wears a blue and white dress with a touch of glitter. She has a white dove on her arm, too.

We began putting Jade together on Saturday. Saturday we wrapped the armature with plastic bags at the legs, then poured Durham’s rock hard inside the leg molds, then squeezed them on. We let it set overnight, but this morning, one leg was loose, so we reset it. Hopefully, we can stuff her up to her waist or so tomorrow, then set her arms.

Tom read a whole Dean Koontz book yesterday. One I bought and haven’t read yet.

He went down on me the day before and says we’ll screw tomorrow. And let me guess - he’ll be too scared to cum being where I’m at in my cycle, right? Good. There’s no sense in taking stupid risks.

I called Andy from the Southgate Hotel, and he said “Hello” in a calm, quiet voice. Then, in a more exasperated way, he said, “Bruce?” He let out a sigh of frustration at that point, then I hung up. This was the only call I gave him from that place, which turned out to be dead quiet. It wasn’t comfortable or convenient, though.

I called Andy three times tonight. He didn’t answer the first time, so I hung up on his machine. He answered the second time while I happened to be fiddling with the clock radio. “Your music sucks,” he said and hung up. I got his machine on the last call and it was perfect! What a funny, ironic coincidence that this God-obsessed guy got the message he got. I was just flipping to a religious station as the machine came on where a guy’s ending words of some speech were, “May God bless you.” He’ll love it! He’ll totally get a kick out of it, as well as a bit curious, I’d think.

Gosh, it’s almost Friday already. We still have biweekly sex, although sometimes 3-4 weeks pass in between sex. I’m glad I’ve gotten used to this and I wish to hell I could know I’ll get used to the hunger once I begin dieting, but it never goes away. Not for me, it doesn’t. Anyway, whatever we do sex-wise, he won’t be squirting this time. Not with me close to mid-cycle and with his cumming just two weeks ago. It still strikes me as odd how God sees to it he doesn’t cum during mid-cycle, although he has a few times. That was quite some time ago, though. I know part of it is Tom himself, but if God can do anything, why put such effort into it and work at the timing and all that? I still say - why not just see to it that I need a hysterectomy? Why work at it needlessly?

Again, not a sound since we returned around 5:00. I let the housekeeper do her thing today, but she didn’t change our sheets. That’s OK. The stuck-on booger is way up by where the bed meets the headboard. We noticed this yesterday if this is really what it is.

APS finally came out today to do their thing, but once again, we’re waiting on fucking Gravity. He needs to get his ass out there and get the meter box up. I’m so damn sick of stupid incompetent little shits! One person says one thing while someone else says another, then Hilda says she doesn’t know who’s doing what. She doesn’t know? Then what the fuck is she in this business for? If she doesn’t know who’s doing what by now, she’s got a real problem. How many years has she been in this business? Well, I think it’s about time people start figuring out who’s doing what and do it! If Gravity wants his money and if people don’t want to get sued, they better get their asses in gear and us in that house by the 1st as the contract states.

One of the guys from APS, who has the same model we do, is in the process of suing Palm Harbor for similar problems we’ve got like with all the staples showing, the botched island trim job, the half-assed baseboard job in the entryway, and the crooked bar. Even Brian, who’s the only one who’s been dedicated so far, noticed the island trim, and he suggested I mention it during the final walk-through. Oh, I will. I’m not gonna necessarily have them fix things, cuz that’d just delay us from getting in there (we’ll fix their fuck-ups ourselves even though we shouldn’t have to. We paid them to do it) However, I am gonna point out these flaws to them. I understand no one and nothing is perfect, but this is a little overkill.

Also, why do people have to die that are associated with those working for us? First Gravity’s mother-in-law dies and now the carpet layer’s friend dies. The carpet would’ve been done today if the guy’s friend hadn’t been killed on a motorcycle. Hilda says it’d be no problem getting another carpet layer if she has to. Let’s hope not, although I still can’t understand why so many different people have to be involved. APS has to be APS, but why can’t Palm Harbor take care of their house’s setup as well? And the septic? We shouldn’t have bothered with separate contractors, but I guess it’s cuz we went through Steven and not Palm Harbor directly.

So we still need the septic filled in after it’s inspected. The electric box needs inspecting. We need carpet. And we need a fucking well, too. Where the hell is the well permit we should’ve gotten two weeks ago?

Again, I can’t wait to get into that house and away from people and their stupidity!!!

Our first stop of the day, after Tom got off work, of course, was to Home Bass. He couldn’t find the tool he needs for the rammed earth wall he wants to make. This is the one to keep loose dogs, coyotes, etc. out, and cut down sound, but we’ll still put up the barbed wire perimeter fence.

We looked at outdoor plants/trees, sheds, decorative light switches, and indoor/outdoor mats. Their indoor mats were a bore, but I got a nice flowery outdoor mat cut around the shape of the flowers.

We also went to Game Works and accumulated about 1400 tickets. Not enough for a 3000-ticket lightning lamp. So I got three 75-ticket velour bears and now I have a yellow one, an orange one, a red one, and a green one (they were out of purple ones) and I have a voucher for 1185 tickets. So, two more trips and we’ll have the lamp. It’s not nearly as cool as the lamp I saw at Home Bass, though, which was amazingly only $50. It’s a stick lamp that’s about 4’ high with water bubbling in it and it changes colors, too.

Just made my hotel call to Andy. I forgot to even bother the last time around. Actually, I gave him two hang-ups on his machine cuz he didn’t answer.

We’re at the Southgate Motel now rather than a hotel as they all seem to be booked. The Fairfield is booked and the Hampton is booked. Something’s obviously going on nearby.

This place, which is the most old-fashioned of all, with real keys/has its doors outdoors like at that dive in Scottsdale. There are stairs you go up and a little walkway that goes down by the rooms so you have an outside hallway. I expected it to be the noisiest, but so far, it’s actually the quietest. With the fan on, anyway. Maybe it’s cuz there’s no hall for door slamming to echo in.

The place doesn’t even have wall lamps. Their lamps sit right on the nightstands. We got a king-size bed on the 2nd floor (it only has two floors) and the bed is awful. The worst thing about the place (I’d rather that than noise). I’ll have to sleep on the pillows and make sure I get my exercise mat to sleep on when we go to the trailer tomorrow (we’re booked for two nights). The carpet is old, worn, and stained, but softer than usual. It also has a little refrigerator and microwave.

There were a couple of not-so-impressive postcards in here. I wrote one up for Paula, then decided it wasn’t worth the stamp just to jot her a few lines. I’ll send her a real letter with more than just five sentences. I made up the other one with gibberish for “Deb Fanny.” Tom agreed it was funny, but said it’d stir things up. I know he’s just being paranoid, but that’s OK. I won’t mail it. They’re not worth it.

Target was the first store we went to, and I got four awesome pails! They’re small-medium sized and are for both baths, the retreat, and my office. I got two that are like soap dispensers with floating objects in oil and water at the bottom. One’s frogs and pink water lilies in green oil. One’s fish in blue oil. One’s just clear plastic with flowers. One’s cartoonish with lots of bright colors.

Got another clothes hamper and a pretty aqua-colored washcloth, so now we’ve got three.

I looked at pictures, and although I did find some nice ones, no big desert ones yet.

Because I’m a woman of variety, the house won’t have any specific theme decoration-wise. I’ve got everything from a picture of a sexy Indian lady, a disco light, dolls, and another broken music box. Yeah, I just had to get the broken one today at Walgreens, and I swear - it was not broken when I bought it, and I did not handle it rough enough to break it. It’s a swan figurine of spun glass with a little pink flower and pink bow that sits on a rotating mirrored bass. Fortunately, though, it can be glued back in place and still look nice, even though a piece is missing (the swans broke free of the base). It’s not like I wanted to play its music, anyway. I just thought it’d make a nice decoration and I always liked these since the first time we saw them nearly a year ago.

Originally, I had planned on getting a cactus clock and cactus plate, but this Walgreens didn’t have them, so I got the musical swans and a four-pack of body mists. I should’ve gotten this $8 4-pack, rather than the one big $8 bottle. The scents are water lilies, sparkling strawberries, Hawaiian ginger, and turquoise seas.

We also stopped in Radio Shack where I found the perfect pair of headphones for my stereo for $50, rather than $100 like at Best Buy.

Later...

This is definitely the quietest place we’ve stayed at. Not one slam or bang.

Our third and final trip to Marie Callender’s was a disaster, and this time I mean it when I say I’ll never go to a restaurant again. Ever! Only drive-through places. It wasn’t only due to screaming, unruly kids, who had to run around the place like wild animals, either. The service was absolutely horrid. I feel guilty for the way I handled it too, but I just couldn’t imagine sitting there without uttering a word and keeping it bottled up. I had to speak out, be blunt, get to the point, and defend both my husband and myself. Mark my words, though - that waitress is extremely lucky I didn’t go in there in a foul mood to begin with or else I’d have kicked her ass to hell and back.

First the bitch claims they were having some sort of problem, so she asked for our credit card and has us pay before eating. Then, we ordered. I asked her to hold the extra sauce from my ribs and chicken, but then when she served me, I had the extra sauce. Also, she served me first. That was rude. Everyone should be served at the same time. So I reminded her that I asked that the extra sauce be held, and she kept insisting I couldn’t do that. When I told her I did it the other night, she said I didn’t have to get mad and that she’d fix it. I wasn’t “mad,” although I was reasonably frustrated at this point. She did fix it. But when she brought my fixed food, apologizing like hell, she also brought Tom’s burgers and fries. Well, the fuck of a cook apparently couldn’t handle my complaint and sabotaged his fries with way too much spice. It was loaded with chili pepper. This was obviously in response to my having my food sent back, but why the little shit botched his food and not mine, and why there was no problem returning a too-raw steak at Denny’s one time, beats me, cuz this fuck’s reaction was your classic reaction. So damn typical! Why is it so hard for someone to just redo something, and move on? Everyone’s gotta be so fucking sensitive and take everything so personally.

So the waitress returns to ask us how things are, we mention the fries, then she asks him to sign the credit card thing without even offering a discount like Denny’s did, and I’m like - whoa, whoa! How about one after all this shit? Then she said something about taking care of it, and I asked to speak to the manager. So the manager comes, we tell her the scoop, she says it’s an insult to accuse her cooks of sabotage, she says her cooks wouldn’t do that (yeah, they’re perfect little angels), and on and on and on. When I realized she’d just sit there and make excuses all night, I took the credit card and receipt to sign and said, “Look. Let me tell you bluntly how it’s gonna be. We’re not paying for this. Period.”

Meanwhile, Tom had momentarily pushed his plate away from him and I was under the impression he wasn’t gonna eat his burger. The manager claims she refunded us, it was over, and so we left. Well, we sure hope it’s over. Amazingly, the Siesta Suites didn’t rip us off, according to the statement we just got, but will they? This is why I hate these damn credit cards, as I told Tom. You may as well hand out blank checks to people so they can just help themselves to whatever they want.

Anyway, to wrap this story up, Tom was upset I bluntly refused to pay and that he didn’t get to eat his burger. He wanted to at least eat that, then argue over the bill. He said not to feel bad about it, but I do and from now on, whenever we have a problem with someone, I’ll just sit there with my mouth shut and let him handle it no matter how much my blood’s boiling. I’m so sick of people and their incompetence and the problems they cause. I can’t wait to hibernate in that house, away from people. People are such stupid assholes.

Oh, and the manager also tried to tell us they season all their fries. Uh-huh. Sure they do. Just like the first two times we were there, right?

We’re back at the trailer now, and since being here, I’ve heard a vehicle drive by at least twice that I know of (yeah, they’ll be passing by more and more as they get closer to moving in). The last time I could’ve sworn I heard music. I know I heard music. I am gonna be made to be so miserable once these people get here till I put a stop to it. Why, God? Huh? Why do you insist I listen to others? You really will never let me live in peace, will you? It really is an impossible dream for me.

Anyway, Gravity’s fucked up on putting in our electric pole again. How many years of experience is this cock supposed to have? Naturally, I feel Tom’s being too nice about it. This man just can’t speak out and put his foot down to save his life, and whenever I’m upset with someone, he defends them.

These fucking “professionals” have a contract saying they have to be done by the 1st, but at the rate they’re going, we don’t stand a chance of getting in by then.

No one’s living behind us yet. I can tell this due to the lack of screaming and house music and I don’t hear any new barks yet, either. They won’t play their car stereo really, really loud, though, till they do move in.

Anyway, it’s obvious God wants me to survive, in the sense of the word, and I knew he wouldn’t ruin our lives by having us sell our house only to have the loan fall through and end up indefinitely homeless (or in apartments). But why oh why won’t he leave me the fuck alone with neighbor noise? Why is it so important to him that they be a part of my life? Is it compensation for not having to listen to a kid inside my own home for 18 years? What is it? Just what the fuck is it?

George said his supplies were stolen. He’s some type of engineer, I guess, who works on houses, and he says someone stole his carpet and tiles, but we think it was someone working for or with him that did it cuz he seems like he could be a read bold, arrogant little shit that someone would do that to.

How do I know the vehicles, especially the one with music, were in fact connected to behind us when I never saw them? I just do. Like I said, I know what God has in store for me. He wouldn’t let me live in peace in the middle of the fucking Arctic.

Tom says I’m a “skinny little thing.” Not at 122 pounds (we weighed ourselves on a scale in the store). Not according to the mirror. Yeah, I undid over a year’s worth of work in just a couple of weeks. I still can’t believe it shows in my face, neck and hips now too, and not just my stomach and thighs. My tits are 36-B. I’m no Dolly Parton, but I sure miss the little mosquito bites I used to have for boobs!

Well, if we can just get into the fucking house, I can start losing weight and toning up with a new home gym, but for now, I can cut down on the shit I’ve been having.

I also can’t wait to take a break from being on a schedule (can’t believe I’ve been on one for three months now!). I want to take a break from alarms and just get up whenever I wake up for a change. At least for a couple of weeks.

I’m gonna tear these pages out after I’ve typed them, then rebind the typed version in here. Meanwhile, rather than dump all this writing, I’ll send this to Paula.

There goes another vehicle. It’s true that they may not have turned down Meadow Green, much less been connected to in back, but it’s no shock to me we’ve got all these people moving in and I’m hearing more vehicles. Most of them have to be connected. Getting closer.

Tom reminded me that people out here don’t want to draw attention to themselves as they do in Phoenix, it’s a different lifestyle, the roads are too bad for a lot of company, and they’re too far out for a lot of company. He can say this all he wants, but these will be anything but rural folks. Maybe the family won’t do music (just barking and screaming, but the guy and his gal pal will certainly do it all. I’ll take care of them, though, trust me. This ain’t Phoenix no more. Here, there are no laws. You got a problem with someone - you shoot them. Unless Tom wants to sell off our property in chunks like George did so he never has to work again, I’m not moving. I’ll fight for my peace and home this time, even if I have to literally kill for it.

Later...

Now I’ll cover where we went today.

Poor Tom wasted time standing in line forever at the PO for that thing that was too big, which turned out to be a computer CD that was to the guy who had our box before us.

We went to K-Mart and Wal-Mart and got many of the household items we need, but we still need to get doormats, an extra hamper, and new pails for the offices and baths. Of course, his mom will be in the guest suite on weekends.

I still want to get a cushion for the car too, to boost me up to shield me from the sun better, and some for the blue chairs I’ll use in the retreat.

I’ve decided to wait on the murals and the big Angel Barbie. Yeah, they have this really cool huge Barbie I want to get someday.

I got those glass jar lamps I mentioned. A big one for the living room and two little ones for the retreat and office. One of the lampshades I picked out is a pink floral shade and the others are white. One has gold trim. I’ll put flowers in them.

I got a couple of bras and a beautiful velvet purple dress for only $10 that’s like a T-shirt dress. Freesia floral body mist, a couple of pairs of batteries, and more earplugs, I also got.

Got air and fabric fresheners and a new, bigger salt and pepper shaker set that’s nothing fancy. Just plain glass ones like in a restaurant.

I also got a dish/cup/glass/bowl/silverware set with a beautiful pansy design. Summer Blush, the theme’s called. I liked it better than the garden one. Got pink floral dish towels, too.

For the baths - can I ever get 20 things in a row without a problem? Every time I buy stuff, something’s got to be broken. I can’t get past buying 15-20 things without a problem. I got two cute soap dispensers for each bath with floating swans and ducks (the soap goes in a chamber below it) and one of them has a broken pump. Got a couple of toilet brushes, and since we rarely use washcloths, I got two new ones and four bath towels. We don’t bother with hand towels, so I didn’t get any. I got a purple and a pink washcloth. For towels, I got purple, pink, light pink and light blue.

I hope our house is being carpeted right now!

Anyway, things here continue to be quiet. Just a few door slams and hardly any people. Tonight might be different, though. There may be more people and more banging.

OK, here’s what I feel is a nasty vibe and what he feels is pure paranoia on my part. Yesterday morning, a little white pickup that I’ve seen drive by before pulled up between the house and trailer, which by the way, could fit our old house, the freeloaders’, and the collies between it. He introduced himself as George P., the guy who owns the 10 acres behind us. He said that he’s retired and bought several lots that he split up and rented. Yeah, you heard right - he’s renting the four lots in back. I move out in the middle of nowhere and I still have renters next to me to deal with! They may not be subsidized blacks or Mexicans that are three feet away, but tell me they’re not going to be noisy and I’ll tell you you’re full of shit! Tom says the worst thing they’ll do is trash their place, but I know better. If no car stereos are blasting in and out, which Tom says its electrical connectors couldn’t hold up to over these bumpy roads, then there’ll be loud music coming from their houses. And remember, they make even the dumpiest stereos so bassy nowadays, that it doesn’t even have to be “loud” to be heard in our house. Tom says we’re too far away for them to blast music loud enough for us to hear cuz it’d blow their eardrums out. No, it wouldn’t. Dogs bark loud enough for us to hear without blowing their owner’s eardrums out. Granted, they are outdoors, but that’s just the thing - I think they’ll have windows open and music playing from outside.

We know there’ll be dogs to listen to, cuz George told us one of the guys moving in is planning on getting a Retriever. Yeah, I’m sure he is.

He says he only has two of the four lots rented so far, and that he was gonna buy our lot too, to split and rent, but I guess something was on next door’s side. OK, great. God looks out for them, but who looks out for me? And I let George know just how I feel, too. He claims he’s gonna sell, but so what? It’s still too many damn people over there. That’s all the more dogs and people I have to listen to till we get a wall up, and even then, nothing blocks out the sound perfectly.

He says they’re moving in next week, and that one more house is to be brought in. So the house we thought was on the closest lot to us isn’t really the closest to us. There’s gonna be three houses running non-parallel to our land in the back, then one property behind the three properties. The front house, which I guess isn’t rented yet, may sort of buffer sounds from the two behind it, but still, I know they’re gonna be a problem. And I’m not gonna call George (he gave us his card) when the parties get out of hand. I’m not gonna be stupid enough to complain to him just so he can tell them to quiet down so they can get even noisier. I simply have to take care of this one myself, and I will. No more neighbors’ noise! I mean it! They’re not gonna force their noise and their lifestyles on me. I’ll be damned if I’ll put up with their shit, and I don’t care what color they are! I won’t stand for it out there in our new home! And I was a fool to think God was finally releasing me from his near-decade-long obsession with pummeling me with neighbor’s noise! Yeah well, this is it. It’s over! I’ll fight for my right to peace within the walls of my own home even if it means getting a gun and killing them all.

Tom says he’s 97% sure that all we’ll hear from them are dogs. Yeah, right! And pigs can fly. Well, I’ll shut them up ASAP. I’m not taking another 8 years of this fucking shit everywhere I go.

I reminded Tom that before we even bought the land I vibed it building up and getting noisy once we moved in. Well, these renters moving in are quite a coincidence so far, wouldn’t you say? Especially when I have an 80% accuracy rate.

I also reminded him that Dan was upset about all this too, and that had to be a reason. He said Dan would be worried about them not maintaining their place, not about them being noisy. If it were a case of them simply trashing the place - fine. Any trash that made it to our property would be barely noticeable what with how big it is, unlike with the filthy Mexicans in Phoenix.

George said that in the farthest house were three people. Two kids and one adult, I thought, cuz I saw two little boys head over there twice, but Tom thinks it’ll be one kid and two parents. In the middle will be a single guy with a girlfriend and this is the one I’m more worried about as far as music, parties, and vehicles coming and going, but Tom says he thinks it’ll be a guy like Dan.

Later...

I have more bitching I want to do about the problem coming behind us, but first, we went to Game Works again and I had fun playing skeeball again. Then I found the best ticket-spitting game I wish I had known about all along. It’s this needle that spins till you stop it, and you win the number of tickets it lands on. Of course, I missed the jackpot several times by one spot. I think most of these games are rigged like most slot machines are in casinos. Anyway, it was a lot of fun playing both games, although next time I’m just gonna play this spin thing and rake in the tickets so I can get more little velour teddy bears. This time, though, we set out to win 1000 tickets, and according to the guy at the prize counter, I had 1040 tickets, after we counted something like 850. Tom says they usually say you have more. I guess so. So, I got what I wanted most - a disco light. It’s really cool. Nice and colorful. I have it going now in our hotel room.

Later...

Changed my mind. For 600 tickets, I think I’ll get a lava lamp or one of those lights with purple streaks of light that look like lightning bolts.

I was pissed to find no one came to the house at all. No carpet layers, no APS, no well drillers - no one. Tom still believes we’ll be in the house by Thanksgiving. I wish, but that ain’t what I think! I think we have another 2-2½ weeks to go and that we won’t get in there till just after my b-day.

Now for the latest Andy news - I did get mail from him after all. I was wondering when he, or someone, was gonna forward mail to me. Someone other than Paula, Kim, or Bob.

It took me a few minutes to remember and unravel the mystery. When Tom came in he gave me an envelope with no return on it and I immediately recognized my own handwriting. I knew I didn’t send myself anything, though, and wondered if Tom was playing a joke on me, even though this didn’t seem to be his style. Then I remembered. When Andy went through all that bullshit talk about moving back east, I sent him font samples to pick out for letters and enclosed a SASE for him to mail me his selections back in. He never used that envelope, though. I never knew why he didn’t, and I never questioned it, but he used this envelope and enclosed one of my little sheets of paper with mumbo-jumbo on it. But what surprised me was - that was it? No writing or decorations on the envelope? No enclosing anything else, like a fuck you letter? He really does hate to write.

Tom said that it gets even weirder, cuz we’ve got mail waiting for us that’s too big for our box. At first I thought it was a CD from one of his computer clubs or something like that since I couldn’t imagine anyone I knew sending me something that big, but then Tom said he knew what it was - our house payment coupons.

I called Jamie at the doll store who said the dress wouldn’t be ready for another couple of weeks. That’s OK. She won’t be together for a few weeks yet, anyway.

We’re at my favorite hotel now - the Fairfield Inn. He just left for work and I’m finishing up the laundry here which sure beats Laundromats! We’re on the first floor for the first time, at the end of the hall. The washer/dryer is at the other end of the hall by the front desk, so I don’t have to lug the clothes up and down the elevator.

I decided that “mysterylin” has to go. If I’m gonna change cites and addresses, I may as well change screen names, too. This way I can unlock my mail controls when I want to without having to worry about hearing from anyone I don’t want to hear from. I thought of names like doll99, rodent99, but I think I’ll try for desertwinds99.

Later...

Laundry’s all done. So now I’ll cover what we did today, things about the house, then the bad news last.

After leaving the land, we stopped at Circle K in Maricopa for cookies for both of us, coffee for me, and soda for him. Then we went through a drive-through near the here, then came here. We came at 1:00 and were told no rooms would be available till 3:00, so we sat out front for a while browsing through truck ads. Only a few looked like they had any potential. We got machines or no answer on most of them, but there’s this one we may check out.

We went to K-Mart to look at household things we want for the house, but all I got, since the car and trailer are pretty packed and since I don’t want to put anything in the house till it’s carpeted, was a picture I didn’t expect to get. It’s a pretty good size for just $6, too. I was looking for desert cactus pictures, but instead, I came across a picture of a beautiful Indian woman (a copy of an oil painting).

For window treatments, we have flowers and crisscross lines in the master suite (bedroom, bath, and retreat). The den and living room have this very boring yellow and dark blue pattern, the kitchen has crisscross lines, and the other three bedrooms have stripes. The stripes are fairly colorful, and they can stay cuz I really don’t have to worry about them clashing with anything. The retreat’s flowers and crisscross designs can stay too, but the bedroom has to go. I want to get solid-colored drapes in there, so they won’t clash with the comforter. I want a white or cream-colored lace for the kitchen, and I’m not sure about the den and living room. The bathroom windows are frosted and they don’t open. Maybe I’ll take the flowers and crisscrosses that are in the master bath and put them in the den since all they really need is the lace valance under it. And maybe I’ll wrap my silk flower vine around the living room rod.

The lowest part of the ceiling is 7’ and the highest is 9’. I’ve got three walls picked out where there’s no slant above it where the wall/ceiling meets for mini-murals. I still may get borders too, but definitely not door murals.

I don’t exactly have a place to hang wind chimes yet so I sort of wish one of our ugly minute trees, which have a lot of bare branches, were near the house. I could hang them on that.

Perhaps it’s only normal, and perhaps it’s lazy stupid Mexicans and their sloppy workmanship, but we’ve been finding some imperfections with the house. The breakfast bar is tilted. Maybe it won’t show as much with stuff on it, though. Also, they put the dining room light switch in an odd place; on the back wall by the door. The fucking cocks did a sloppy, half-assed job with the trim on the bottom of the kitchen island, and only half a trim job in the entry area. The fourth bedroom’s door doesn’t close all the way and needs sanding. We have a lot of wall panel staples showing too, that we have to caulk.

Hopefully, the carpet will be down tomorrow. Then he can call Hilda to see if a cleaning crew is gonna go through there or what. I’d hope so cuz it’ll be a lot of cleaning to be done, but at the same time, I may as well do it myself to get in faster. We just want in!!! Even if that means tying up loose ends ourselves.

I’m getting a bit tired, so if I don’t get to the shitty news today, I will tomorrow. Tom says I have nothing to worry about other than typical dog-barking. God, I hope he’s right!!!!!