When I got up at 5 PM, I saw that the lot was still hanging at $20, but come primetime, it jumped to $37. I’d say there’s no way I’m going to win this one. There’s this particular bidder who not only seems quite determined, but they’ve got 67 feedbacks in less than a month. Anyone who can afford to buy that much stuff in that short of a time has money. This person will probably be willing to pay a lot more for this lot than I am. It’s good that it’s ending in the middle of a workday. However, by the time I go to place my bid on Monday morning as I’d originally planned, it’ll probably already be over my limit and so I probably won’t end up placing it. I guess this is a good thing. Yes, it’s a hell of a deal and I hate to lose out on it, but $72 is an awful lot to be spending right now. We really need to save for the move.

We discussed it and decided on a business budget. This is a business budget only that’ll have nothing to do with whatever money he ends up making at whatever job he has next. That money will get budgeted when we get to that point. For now, we decided that $80 of every $100 profit we make will go towards business expenses while we each get $10. He’s hoping to make $200 - $300 in profits a month which would give us about $25 - $30. I’m also hoping that we can have $100 a month in spending money once he’s working somewhere again. If so, then I thought I might put the $100 towards dolls and the profits and grocery savings towards other things. I’m not sure if I’ll include Barbie in the $100 group. I think instead I’ll reserve that for just porcelains.

Anyway, it’s good that he’s setting up the business now while he’s not working because when he has a job, he’ll be out a good 10 hours a day, counting driving time. I just hope he won’t let himself be suckered into free overtime! He’s just way too nice.

Next Saturday he’s also going to stop and see Jamie at the recycling center because they’re now selling old junkie electronics people bring in (after making sure they work), and if we can make as much money as we have been with his old junk, we can certainly make more with other people’s old junk.

The spells aren’t working against the spiders lately, so Tom’s going to spray the doors tomorrow.

I awoke at 129 today, so that’s 3 pounds down. It would be so wonderful if it could continue on down and down and down, but nope. Once it hits 127, that’s it.

There have been lights on and off at the new houses and there’s a trailer parked beside one of them, but I still can’t believe anyone’s living in them. There are no new dogs, no car doors, no nothing, although I have been hearing music lately. I can tell, though, that it’s not coming from there. I just hope that wherever it’s coming from it’s not a nasty omen of some kind. I’ve learned that in this state, even the noisiest people can move in quietly. Even the blacks moved in quietly. When I first went over to tell the cock to tone the music down, he said they’d been there two weeks already. I don’t know why this is, but it seems to be a bit of a custom out here where you tiptoe in, get settled, then make a ruckus. Anyway, whatever happens around here, we’re not going to have to deal with it much longer. Soon we’ll be off to deal with new neighbors. It’s just a curse I’ve had to live with since 1992, so I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the fact that no matter where I go, I’m going to be next to the most visible, most audible household in the area. I’m kind of hoping we’ll be able to grab a couple of cheap 2-acre parcels owned by the same person. We’ll get as much land and as many trees as we can. The good thing about the climate up there will be that if there’s a gap in the trees we want to fill in, we should be able to do that much easier there. Not just because of the climate, but because food is more plentiful there for the wildlife, whereas here, food is so scarce that a measly carrot is quite a jackpot for the local rodents and rabbits. In other words, they shouldn’t set out to destroy whatever we plant and there should hopefully be no evil spirits that don’t want us making ourselves comfortable there interfering as well.