Yesterday turned out to be lots of fun. It was a refreshing break from the usual bump and grind.

First, the queen surprised me by sending me a birthday card/check after all. Again, it makes no sense to not give a damn if someone’s homeless while you care to remember their birthday. On the other hand, whoever said most people made sense? This money, plus the Christmas money Tom says he thinks she’ll send will go towards a wholesale incense order, and maybe – maybe – a PG doll or two.

I got a lot of little goodies yesterday, but first we went to the PO to mail the first half of College Romance to Bob. I hope he gets it! They have some pretty sophisticated machines today. You weigh the envelope/package, it tells you how much it weighs/costs, you pay for it with your credit card, then it tells you when it’ll probably arrive. It printed out a bigger postage sticker than we expected. We had to turn it sideways or else it would’ve covered the address. It’s pretty cool, though I was surprised they said it’d probably arrive on Tuesday. I’d have thought Thursday would be more like it.

At the dollar store, I got a couple of tablecloths; one pink, one purple. I don’t really like how they’re so paper-thin, but that’s why they were just a buck. I’ve got one on the weathered table that’s in the dining area. I also got a package of 40 peppermint incense cones, but they were way too smoky, so I’ll sic them on Paula. I also got lotion, a cookie sheet, and another bath glove to make scrubbing dead skin off even easier now that I can do it with two hands.

We went to a bookstore where I got a couple of Mary Higgins Clark books. Before we leave, I’ll trade/donate the books I’ve accumulated to lighten the load.

At K-Mart, I got a couple of small cheap perfume knock-offs, Primo and Skin Musk, a 6-pack of multi-flavored lip gloss sticks, a notebook with rose-colored paper, multi-colored pens, and a $20 pair of headphones that sure beats those earbuds. They’re not quite as comfortable as my old pair, though, cuz they’re new so they’re still tight. They should break in fast enough, though.

I got a few dollars of incense, but Jan wasn’t there. There also wasn’t any incense on display from IG, so I don’t know what happened with that.

The scenery was depressingly ugly. I always thought winter was one ugly season with the snow and the trees looking all dead without their leaves.

Tom’s going to switch music computers once again. Yes, the other one stutters more, but it has a better sound card.

We’re also going to put the rat in one of the bigger cages. I figured, what the hell? He’ll be happier to have more room, no doubt, and like it or not, he’s getting a bath today!

Tom’s also going to do my ear and add more air to the bed.

When I was showering early this morning, I went to crack the window to let some of the steam out, and sure enough, I could see the glow of the daughter’s TV, even at 4:00 in the morning. I wonder why she’s up all night if she doesn’t work 1st or 2nd shift. Maybe she’s just nocturnal, though I swear these people never sleep. I don’t hear them going back and forth as much since it’s gotten really cold and snowy, but I still hear them at all hours of the morning, afternoon and evening.

Later…

Today there were a few snow flurries, but that’s it so far. It’s supposed to warm up to 50º by the weekend.

Romeo hasn’t been coming around, and Bev’s been quiet. I still can’t believe how quiet this place is. Tom said all the places he’s rented are like this, but this is a first for me. Of course, I never lived in a duplex before either, and an apartment in an apartment building is never all that quiet compared to a duplex. Besides, I still say that without a doubt there was a noise curse on me.

We signed up for a free DVD rental trial offer where you cue up a list of movies you want to see. They send you one to keep as long as you want, plus provide a SASE for you to mail it back when you’re ready to. When you do, they send you the next one on your list.

The rat’s now bathed and in a bigger cage, I’ve got my old sound card back and old music computer and Tom fixed an old portable cigarette lighter to make blowing up my bed easier. This way he just hooks it up to a big battery when we go to add air to it. All I need him to do now is clean my ear.

Tom thinks I’m inadvertently psyching his scratch tickets to lose. Because I’m so sure we’ll never be allowed to win a large sum of money, he thinks that when he buys tickets in my presence, I’m causing them to lose. He says it only happens when I’m around, though he agrees he only wins small amounts when I’m not.