Finally, the spell has worked! I killed his infection and prevented it from entering the inner ear. He’s still not 100% yet, though he’s much better. This week he can aggressively search for a job (he feels confident a temp agency will take him on), then about a month from now, we should know once and for all if we’re staying or going. I still think we’re going because even if we both got good-paying jobs, I don’t see how we could catch up fast enough. This isn’t a $425 rent payment we’re talking about, but a nearly $1,000 house payment.

As for Miss Perfect ignoring us, they’re hurting themselves more than they’re hurting us by stiffing us out of any birthday/Christmas money (unless Mom plans to give it all to Tom after Christmas) because if they don’t give us anything, we’re both done with them, and that will mean that sooner or later they’ll need someone to come fix something within their little shitbox that they’re too stupid to do themselves, and Tom won’t be answering their cries for help. It’s Tom’s family so he has to do what he wants if they stiff us and even sit back and watch us lose the house, but if it were all up to me, we’d never again answer any of their calls/emails much less contact them in any way. At that point, I’d say let them sit and worry and wonder why we’re ignoring them, and it amazes me just how stupid people are, too. Meaning, they fuck you over, you ditch them, then they ask why. Miss Perfect asked Tom why there wasn’t any email from me and he had to remind the ditz of her childish, selfish little casino outburst. People are so dumb at times it isn’t funny, but like I said, if they do what I think they’re going to do, let them go figure for all we’ll care.

I realize more and more that nobody gives a shit about us but us, but at least we have each other and aren’t alone. I couldn’t imagine life without him, rich or poor, no matter what we lived in. If we’ve got to be stuck in a dump for a while, though, fine as long as it isn’t next to any Jew-hating freeloaders with the wrong connections!!!

Later…

No Mary mail today. I’m surprised I didn’t get a letter as well as drafts because she had said she was going to get cracking on the book again. I guess she’s still depressed over her cousin. Because my flop of a story will be like 3 or 4 envelopes worth of stamps to mail to her, and I’m sure I need not remind her how broke we are, I won’t be writing as much but will get a letter off to her when I get 8 pages full as I don’t like to mail more than 4 sheets at a time. As I also told her, it isn’t just stamp money I gotta watch, it’s ink. My laser printer’s broken and I’m only half-full on ink. Fortunately for me, I don’t mind writing, so if I have to write by hand I will, but I think, I hope, it doesn’t come to that! If things get so bad that I can’t write at all, don’t think I’m dead, I told her, but again, if things ever got that bad, then something up there really, really does have it in for us! I’d like to think that not even we could rank that low on its shit list, but time will tell.

Things are still looking pretty bleak here but come mid-January we should definitely know for sure if we’re staying or going. I think we’ll end up going. Circumstances always force us to move before we’re ready to do so on our own, though if we do end up staying, we’re still going to look for better land deals that are more isolated. And fence this damn property!!!

I wish I loved noise cuz then I’d want to stay in the city where there are sewer systems, mail and trash services, and stores close by, but Arizona cities are a symphony of chaos! I suppose it’s that way in any area where it’s nice for most of the year. However, as long as people gotta act like animals, I couldn’t stand to live with them.

I called and left Paula a couple of messages.

They put a big water storage tank in front, but still haven’t dropped the second house, nor am I in any hurry for them to do so. The first house is still unoccupied as well.

They traded the trailer in back for a horse. I knew they’d get another horse unless this is the same one and it was sick or something. It’s hard to tell. Like I said, though, I knew they wouldn’t put all that time and money into a corral just to give up on horses that quickly. Especially such outdoorsy people like they are. They’ve been quieter, though, as far as that old truck with the loud motor goes, and have been burning their trash. Most of it anyway. They’re really not that bad when they can keep their dogs to themselves. The dog does get annoying at night, but they could be much worse, so I can’t complain too much. It’d be hell having them next to us in Phoenix, though, that’s for sure! There are just too many of them and too many dogs.

Tom got baking soda which I poured down the disposal as he thinks the foul odor I’ve been smelling is coming from that. I find that hard to believe, but we’ll see.

It’s been 7 weeks since I sent in the form for the $20 Toys R Us card. I’m sure I’ll never see it any more than I got to see the other cards. Why do they even have these offers if they know they’re not going to send the cards? Just to tease people? Or is this just our rip-off curse that never seems to quit?

Tomorrow begins the 1000-calorie/1-hour walk to finally find out for sure if something’s wrong or not. Again, I don’t know if it’ll show up in testing if there is. God won’t let what he doesn’t want fixed show up broken. So, if I don’t lose weight I better hope it’s a medical problem and not a curse.

Though the cold weather helps, along with spraying the doors, I have been getting better and better at keeping spiders out by placing spells on the insides of the doors.

Tom found that my prescription inhaler is $20 without insurance, yet the store-brand one was $10 which is what the prescription ones are with insurance, so he went and bought the store-brand one and said to hell with the last prescription one like we agreed he’d do if it did turn out to be more expensive. I’m going to be using the store brand one from now on anyway. Rich or poor, though, a person shouldn’t have to pay to breathe.

Tom said there were a few booms today that were about a 5 on a scale of 1–10 in severity, yet I amazingly slept through them. I had the fan on high, though, so maybe that’s why.

Again I got a message saying my mail to Miss Perfect wouldn’t go through, but I don’t know if this pertains to the first message I sent or the second.