Another peaceful Sunday has passed us by. Now we supposedly have 76 days to go here. I’m just glad our only option wasn’t to resort to a Phoenix apartment! They were terrible! Beautiful, but so incredibly noisy with the banging, music and outside activity. I was quite surprised when Tom told me he’s never had a noisy apartment. I think he has but was just oblivious to it all. Some people can tune out background noise. I used to be able to do that when I was on Oswego Street in Springfield, and of course being bombed on Navane made sleep not much of an issue for me then. Now, however, I could never stand to be there, awake or not. I wouldn’t get shit for sleep even with the fan with the floor above me creaking under people’s footsteps, and the outside noise would drive me crazy. Everything changed as far as noise tolerance and sleep ability once I came off the Navane and experienced the NHA.

I could actually hear Beverly talking in her utility area last Friday before he got in with the groceries. I was in the kitchen when I heard a faint voice. I thought she was out on her patio with someone at first, or that it was coming from the other side, but then I realized she was in her utility area, either talking on a cell phone or to herself.

It’s amazing how I can sleep without the fan or the sound machine if it’s really late at night. Sometimes they go back and forth in the middle of the night, but not that often. It’s between 6 PM – 9 PM that they’re most active. I could never have done that in Arizona with all the damn dogs out barking up a storm non-stop, even at night.

I still haven’t received my bags and oils, and I better get them today! One more package chase, just one more, and there’s absolutely no way I’ll order from them again or even from SOS, not to mention how bad I’ll trash and bash them in their testimonials. Assuming it was picked up late Wednesday, there’s no reason I shouldn’t get it today unless he really didn’t mail it or somebody fucked up the address. Thank God I don’t have a store. I can see why Jan was all frantic about not getting the incense a lot sooner than she did.

Tom’s read through about half of my book and says it’s a good story so far. Thanks to him, he caught a few mistakes/discrepancies that I missed. We should be able to submit it by March.

We went to Walmart yesterday shortly after they opened at 7 AM. When they become a supercenter in a couple of months, they’ll be open 24/7. Tom applied for a position using their computer. Job applications have come a long way since the 80s! This was nearly 100 pages long! It asked him questions like, Do you feel employees who steal are rarely caught? Should one be reprimanded for taking too long of a lunch break? Do you consider yourself a loner? And then you respond by saying you either agree or disagree.

Again, I’m quick to say they won’t hire him because it’d be so convenient, they’re likely to have stock options, and then there’s the discount. However, the pay would suck and so would the hours. The hours would be unpredictable, and he’d probably have a hard time getting 40 hours a week.

I got a standard pillow for $2 and change and a body pillow for $8 and change. Because this was a few dollars less than I anticipated, I couldn’t resist taking advantage of a hell of a deal – a $10 majesty palm that’s about my height. I suppose I shouldn’t have bothered with the way we tend to lose things, and with the supposed move coming up, but I just couldn’t help myself. I hope it will live. It seems pretty healthy. From what I read online, the one I had in Maricopa may’ve died because it was too bright, warm and dry there. I know the spider plant sure likes this darker, cooler and wetter climate better. It hardly grew in Arizona, but as soon as we got here, it took off like crazy. I hope the move to Redding, whenever the hell that happens, won’t hinder its growth, but if it does, it does. The desert date palm seems to be the same no matter where it goes.

The only bad thing I read that I have to watch out for is spider mites.

Before I got the palm, we agreed to skip out on pizza or Chinese. We’d have gone out looking at rural neighborhoods and I’d have cranked up my stereo had the animals been over. I even agreed to bump getting a couple of books up two weeks, so I can get Kayla and Lea next week. Yes, another thing I probably shouldn’t get, and that’s two of Barbie’s friends. They have the nicest faces, though, and this particular version of Kayla I want has her in a reddish-pink palm print shirt with a tropical skirt and strappy sandals. What makes the Lea doll I want rare is that not only does she stand flat-footed, but she has defined toes. Yup, the Barbies and her ever-growing slew of friends sure have gotten way more realistic since I was a child. Anyway, Lea’s part of the Cali Girl series, dressed in beachwear.

We both agreed that getting little things a little at a time would be okay since it’s really ridiculous to try to throw a few bucks here and a few bucks there toward Kaori. Kaori’s going to have to come with a large sum of money. If that’s not with the queen’s money or stock money, then I guess it’ll have to wait and come from the sale of whatever house we end up buying. Meanwhile, I’ve come to see that there’s no reason I can’t enjoy little things every now and then, though I doubt I’ll go back to getting the $50-$250 dolls, even though he thinks I will.

Despite the fact that it’s been cloudy and wet, spring has definitely sprung. I wonder how long it’ll be before they wake me up when they go to mow and trim hedges. That’s another thing I don’t miss about the Phoenix apartments. I hated how those mowers and blowers would come right up to my window when I’d be sound asleep! I hope we can not only rent a house but rent one that we can landscape at our own convenience.