Hit my biggest win yet and my first premium sweep! The contest ended at midnight last night and I got the notice at 6:30 this morning. My name must’ve been drawn just minutes before the notice was sent. I won a 30th Anniversary Collection EC-2005 electric guitar with anniversary logo inlay and black satin finish valued at $630! I was the only winner of this prize and it was a 2½-star daily sweep. We’re going to sell it on eBay. We were thinking February would be a good time. In January too many people are broke after buying Christmas presents, so that’s why we think that would be a good time.

We’re ordering the bed and an office chair for me on Friday. Then next Friday we’ll order the headboard/shelves and platform. At some point, I’ll order a comforter online, too. I like the shimmery satin ones.

I’ve decided that once all this is bought, I’ll take a third of my monthly spending money and put it towards a trip to a department store around here. We’ll probably take the bus there. We need things like new towels and silverware. I also need a bigger hard drive and some new clothes.

The handyman is here now refinishing the back porch to help prevent the pipes from freezing. He stopped by two days ago to let us know he’d be doing this. He hasn’t knocked on the door today which is good. I don’t want him to come in here far enough to see Blondie. It almost sounds like I’m back in the duplex with the way he’s bopping around back there. It’s so nice to know I’m not, though! I hope he’s not at it for too long. I don’t see why he would be. The porch is small. He’s actually putting down this ugly, rust-colored outdoor carpet, but it’ll look nicer than the peeling paint underneath it that’s also in front. I don’t think there are pipes running under the front patio, though, so I doubt he’ll do that one, too.

Exactly 5 years ago today I was in a semi-drunken sleep, never knowing that in just a few hours I’d wake up, leave the house and not return for half a year. How different my life is today than it was then! If I’d known I’d be in Oregon less than 5 years from that day, I’d have assumed it was because we were forced to run, but who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t lost the house? Maybe we would’ve been. Those sickos that so cruelly and hatefully tormented us and ran our lives for so long weren’t the type to give up and let go. Take a break, but never let go.

Life is certainly much better today, but not perfect. My ear is getting worse, if it really is my ear that’s the problem. The extra oil doesn’t seem to be helping at all, but you know what? I’m sick of this. Just totally sick of it! Sometimes the best way to deal with a problem is not to deal with it at all and I’m just about ready to do just that. I’ll just do what I can to make myself more comfortable, but I’m not going to bother seeing a doctor about it. Tom said it won’t kill us to rent a car if we have to go either up to Portland or down to Sacramento to find a doctor who can deal with this (an otologist), but why bother? There’ll only be something else afterward. All my life I’ve had one medical problem after another, so why treat this just to move on to something else?

I had a dream two nights ago that I was to die in July. Then it became 2-3 years. Then I was asking Tom if he thought I’d be alive when I was 45 and he said, “I don’t know,” in a semi-doubtful yet hopeful voice. Just maybe I will get an early exit from this life after all. Wasn’t it something I’ve wanted so many times anyway? Sometimes I wonder if an early departure might not be such a bad idea. Do I really want to live to get old and arthritic, then lose my husband who’s older than me just to have no one to take care of me when my time comes? Do I really want to live if most of my life is still destined to be filled with poverty, stress and sorrow? For all I know, this thing just may turn deadly for real if left untreated. Maybe it’s a massive infection or a tumor. I just don’t know what the hell it is. I trust fate to do what’s best and I believe that whatever’s meant to be will be no matter what, so I think I’ll just leave it alone, and if it’s something that kills me, then it kills me. Somehow, though, I doubt this is anything that will one day go away on its own whether it kills me or not, so maybe since praying for help was useless, I oughta pray for it to kill me as quickly and as painlessly as possible. See, that’s the hard part of saying I’d let anything deadly kill me before I treated it. It’s the suffering leading on up till it finishes me off that’d be hard, but I’m certainly going to give it my best! Still, I wish I knew why I can put spells on Blondie to extend his life, and do spells on Tom to keep him cold-free and to help him with sprains and things like that, yet I can’t help myself worth shit.

There is one way we helped me, though, and that’s that we finally got me a pair of reading glasses at the grocery store yesterday. I was surprised by how big even the smallest pair was for my head despite having such a fat face. What a huge difference they make by enlarging the fine print I can no longer see! Eventually, though, I’m going to have to get in for a prescription to help me see close-up. I’ll get a child’s frame at that point.

It’s so true that the rich get richer while the poor only get poorer. Back when we were homeless, we couldn’t get winning lottery tickets to save our lives. Just an occasional two-dollar winner. I had to urge Tom not to bother spending the few precious bucks we had because I knew better. Now that we have money, however, he’s winning like crazy. He has $41 in winning tickets to cash in later on when he goes to do the laundry.

The most exciting thing to happen was the surprise package that came on Friday via FedEx from Nashville. Although it was at the end of my day when the mail was due, I couldn’t sleep because I had one of my feelings. One that said to try to stay up just a little longer for a cool surprise. When I first looked out and saw the package, I thought it was Tom’s party pack or the DVDs, but then I realized the box was too big and too lightweight to be either one of them. Instead, it was a white cowboy hat autographed by Terri Clark! I have one of her songs, Poor, Poor Pitiful Me, which Linda did in the late 70s. She’s got a good strong voice. Very country-sounding.

It was from the Grand Ole Opry sweep that expired on the 15th. It was a two-star sweep in which one randomly drawn winner a day was to win an autographed item of some kind from various country artists for 80 days. I won mine on day 76.

The sucky thing is that no COA of any kind came with it so I don’t know where/how I could sell it. I can’t prove she signed it. Besides, the writing’s so sloppy that I couldn’t even read the name. I thought it was a guy’s writing. I only found out who it was when I checked the sweep’s winner’s list.

Later…

I think that the olive oil we decided to try in my ear may’ve been a big mistake. It seemed to make my ear worse. When I went back to the baby oil, the popping and pressure backed right off like it usually does. The fact that the baby oil seems to help it suggests that it’s not a growth or an infection. Yet if it’s just dead skin, why has it been causing me such headaches for so long?

We’re going to hold off on the portable washer unless he either spots a good deal on one or there really is a windfall of some kind at work that delays the California move for years. We could give up $13 an hour without much risk, but there’d be no way we’d be quick to throw away either bonuses of many thousands of dollars, a potential partnership, or higher wages than what the bank was last paying.

Another day of being oh so glad that next door’s still vacant and that I’m not in that damn duplex listening to the door-slamming, the barking, the TV blaring.

The bad news is that my ear still acts up. Our current guess is that it’s dead skin way deep in the canal. How I wish I never had the surgery or braces! Tom said there’s a slight chance I could’ve developed a condition some people get after having orthodontic work done. We’re going to have me try oiling it twice a day which does seem to help and see what happens. I’d still like to hold off on seeing a doctor who could check it out till we get to California so we don’t have to go all the way to Medford. I’m sure there’s not a doctor in this town who’s even heard of such a thing as congenital atresia. Meanwhile, I’d still like to deal with my teeth. There’s a female dentist we could walk to. I’m willing to cut my $250 a month of spending money down in order to take care of them once and for all.

There is some good news and that’s that the tooth on the side of the good ear has definitely died for sure. Thank God! That tooth drove me crazy for nearly a year and a half. It hit me that it had been a while since it bothered me, so as a test, I went and swished cold water around in my mouth, something that would’ve been excruciating in the past, yet I never felt a thing. And so now I’ve moved on to the ear. Why must I always have something going on with me? As soon as we moved to Oregon and my lungs got better, my tooth took over, and now that it’s dead, the ear’s getting worse.

I’ve been a journal writer now for 18 years! It’s hard to believe the person who wrote those Massachusetts journals was me. Of course, that’s just as easy to say about the Connecticut and Arizona ones, and I suppose someday I’ll say that about the Oregon ones.

Nothing regarding the queen’s letter. I’m sure they contacted the pigs upon receiving it simply because that’s what people do when they get pissed at someone. They run to the pigs like kids run to their parents – “Mommy, Daddy, so and so did this to me! Make them stop.” Now knowing the law a lot better than I used to, I know the pigs would only tell them, “This may not have been a nice letter and she may’ve had things to say that you didn’t want to hear, but there’s nothing we can go after her for.”

I’m excited about the end of the month coming up. I feel I’ll win at least twice. I already received the roll of film I was notified about two days ago, but have yet to receive the DVDs I was told about weeks ago.

We got a rental DVD today, but it was cracked, so we’re returning it for another copy. Meanwhile, there’s a couple coming in today.

About a month ago I told Tom I vibed it’d snow on the 29th. About 4 days ago they predicted the shit for today, but now they’ve updated it to Saturday which will be the 29th.

I got a really pretty card with roses from Mary, and as usual, Paula hasn’t written. I haven’t heard from her at all since we moved. I told her once I sent the package, which she should have by now, that I wouldn’t write till I heard from her. That oughta prompt her into writing.

Mary says she likes getting older cuz of the maturity and wisdom that comes with it. Well, I know one thing for sure and that’s that while youth and thinness may look better, I’d never trade my upcoming 40th birthday in for a 20th one if you paid me! Look how much I know now as opposed to 20 years ago or even 10 years ago.

This is one funny rat. He’s down to only two places he likes to be these days; either on my lap or at home. He doesn’t even climb up Tom’s legs anymore. I forgot I left his door open just now and was in the other room talking to Tom when he came running up to me, then turned and ran in here, expectantly looking back at me along the way, so I would follow him before he went home. Guess he just wants me to be in here with him.

Received win notice #15 yesterday, a roll of film. This one sucks because not only do we not have a camera that could use it, but I don’t know if it’s anything I could sell. Oh well. It won’t hurt to try when we have a tag sale, though that shouldn’t be till we’re about the leave the state.

I finally hit 130 pounds, so now I have to take it really easy. It’s just easier said than done when you’re always hungry!

In light of the raise he got, we may sign up for a dental plan and maybe even an insurance plan of some kind towards the end of the year. It’d still cost hundreds of dollars to get my teeth dealt with, but I’m sick and tired of the discomfort they’ve been giving me.

It’s raining for what might be the sixth time since June. The leaves are falling off the trees now, too.

The house next door is still set at 49 grand. I hope to hell that the people selling it are as stubborn and as greedy as can be, determined to get that amount even if it takes years to do so because that would be just the case if they won’t budge on the price. If the house can stay empty and the chick on the other side can stay put, then I’m willing to stay put myself till we can leave the state, so long as we bomb the shit out of this place come spring.

Today was a stark contrast to yesterday. Yesterday there was a 4-hour power outage that had to wake me up for a while, not to mention screw up Tom’s plans for the day.

God, things are going so unbelievably well for us! Just when I think that’s it, all the surprises are in, and more good fortune comes our way!

Tom was making $7.35 a year ago today. Then they jumped him a quarter sometime last winter. Then they recently jumped him to $8.75 at the beginning of this month. Well, today when I got up in the early evening, Tom said, “I know you don’t like to talk when you first get up, but I have to tell you something.” I had no vibes about this whatsoever, but they made him the manager of the Quality Assurance department and it’s to pay $13 an hour, effective immediately!!! Do you know how good that is for being in a place where the cost of living is so low?! Well, let’s put it this way, we could almost pay our entire rent with one week’s pay! Also, we’re now able to save $250 a month towards the California move while I spend $250 on myself and he takes $150 (guys never want to shop as much as we women do).

In light of these events, we’re going to delay the bed a week or two, three at the most, so we can get the entire setup at once. Then I can get a new office chair and be done with this plastic lawn chair so I can then tackle the Tonner dolls I want to collect. I don’t want just the dolls, I want some outfits for them, too. The old line is nearly extinct now, so before they retire some of the old fashions I want, I’ll grab what I can. I probably won’t get anything like a computer desk while we’re still in this state, or a new banana palm, my only plant that didn’t survive the trip up here. Besides, we’ve only got so much room in here. This place is only 500-600 sq. ft.

I just can’t believe it! Can’t believe that those people who less than one year ago were living in motels, crying all the time, wanting to die, and selling stuff just to eat were us! I know one thing for sure and that’s that we’re never living without lucky bamboo plants! We’ll keep up the prayers too, though I’m still not convinced that’s where it’s at. I’ve prayed too many times in the past just to be ignored, so I don’t see why God would listen to me now, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. My old attitude was not to pray to someone who could allow for all the bad things that have happened to me to happen, and while a part of me will always resent Him for it, maybe He did it so I’d appreciate the good times all the more and I do! I don’t know, they say He works in mysterious ways, and well, life really is one big mystery. Who knows for sure why we go through what we go through? Why do some get killed in hurricanes while others win a fortune in the lottery?

To finally be able to have choices in life really makes me feel good. To know that we could license the truck anytime we felt like it is a great feeling. We simply choose not to at the moment because the more we save, the faster we’re out of here. Besides, it’s only a 6-minute walk to work. Still, it’s a nice feeling to know we have the choice. Too much of my life has been spent saying, “I want to go here” while fate or someone with more power over me was always quick to say, “No, you go there.” I’d say, “I want to do this,” while fate/society said, “No, you do that.” I felt like a puppet on a string and it really sucked! I was like a robot programmed by fate and whoever had the power to program me to bend me to their will. I’m not saying we’ll always be in the driver’s seat of our lives from now on, but it’s still nice to get periodic chances to be in control of our own destinies for once and make our own decisions. Getting the truck licensed and insured was simply no option for us for quite a while there and you know how it sucks big time to feel controlled like that and like you’re backed into a corner with no alternatives.

If they started throwing even more money, bonuses or stock options at him, then staying here another year would be well worth it. The more money we have to move with the better.

Another thing this raise brings is peace of mind for if they fired him tomorrow or went out of business because unemployment is based on your income. For the longest time, we didn’t have the security of knowing we could fall back on that if things crumbled, but now we do. So you see, we’d not only be moving with money we saved but with 6 months or more of decent unemployment checks. In Sacramento, there will be even more job opportunities where I can finally have medical insurance for myself as well, including dental (I’m still having that pain on and off which Tom thinks is inflammation rather than infection). And of course, I miss being in a warm climate as well as where it doesn’t snow.

For so long I was so sure we’d be doomed for a lifetime of poverty in the city, and we still may be. However, this huge raise has gotten me to see that there’s a possibility that just maybe we’ll be ok and we’ll get to go rural again someday. Just maybe. I think I would rather return to the days of fighting with wells and sonic booms rather than stay just a few feet away from others and have to hear every bark, every shout, every door slam, every fart, and even every burp for that matter!

It’s too hard to explain, but about 6 months from now Tom should know if there’s even more potential or not at this place as far as bonuses and stock options go. If all goes well, this could be the biggest break we ever had in our lives! I’m talking more money than we once thought we could get from the Maricopa house, like thousands and thousands of dollars. It has to do with first a Japanese company placing a huge order, and now a German company in which case screw moving to California just to go motel and rental hopping as we did here, we’d be buying a house there right away! I kind of wish I could snap my fingers and like the city and cold climates. Just 10-20 grand would buy us a house here. I mean, this is almost what he was getting at the bank! He was making $16 an hour when they fired him for not being a religious freak right along with the others. $16 is probably what he’d have been raised to if we were in Sacramento right now because the cost of living is higher there so they pay more.

Tom and I went to the store today. They’re draining the canal. I guess they do this every winter. It stinks worse than the ocean! The seagulls love it because it’s easier for them to catch fish. Tom swore he saw three otters a few weeks ago.

In the letter I got from Mary a few days ago praising me for praying to God and sympathizing with how shitty Bob lived before he died, she enclosed an address. She said if I just write to that address asking for them, they’ll send non-religious books about spirituality, karma, etc. I don’t know that I’ll find them all that interesting as opposed to a good mystery novel, but maybe I could sell them.

The wins are getting more worthless, though Tom kind of likes the 1-month subscription to NASCAR’s track pass that I won in an instant win game. This allows one to hear communications between the drivers and those in the pit crew which you can’t hear watching the races on TV.

I also won, so I learned via snail mail today, a year’s subscription to some traveling magazine. It was a 2nd prize-winning. It can’t be much of a magazine to have an ARV of just $8.

Amazingly, I finished my story last night and I’ll admit I kind of rushed it along. Due to how busy I am with the sweeps, I don’t know if I’ll write any more stories for a while.

Although Tom didn’t think my ear/tooth pain had become infected since I had no fever, if I could know since I was around 5 that I couldn’t conceive, then I should know other things, too. So when I said it had become infected, I knew I was right. Not only is women’s intuition real, but we know ourselves better than others, don’t we? And so he looked online for natural cures to replace antibiotics and found that an herbal extract called Echinacea might help and so far it has. The pain’s not gone, but it’s lessened a lot. Something better help it because my prayers and spells have been worthless.

Today’s been unusually quiet for being in the city. It seems the National Hear Me obsession backs off with cooler weather, which makes sense because even these idiots know that when it’s warmer, people tend to open their windows or sit outside where they can hear them do their shit. Everyone’s gotta be on stage. Hear me. Notice me. I exist! Meanwhile, if it were like this every day then I’d be more than glad to remain in the city where it’s more convenient.

Although it’s cold at night, sometimes freezing, most of the days are still pleasant. It’s been a warmer, dryer fall as well as a warmer, dryer summer.

Although we were supposed to get it today, yesterday was when we got the shirt and CDs that had been sent to the old place. There were 4 CD samplers of upcoming bands and one shirt.

With all the sweeping I’ve been doing, roughly 600 entries a day, though mostly dailies, I’d be surprised if I weren’t snagged twice at the end of the month.

I forgot to mention that Yves enclosed a coupon for $20 off my next order because they had to send a substitute free gift, though I’m glad they ran out of the face-cleaning system they were initially sending because I like what they sent better – shampoo, lotion, perfume.

My beauty supplies came today. With all the dry weather going on for the last few months, my skin really needed a boost from them! I’ve been enjoying the samples they’ve enclosed to the thump of God knows who’s music. There’s usually something going on around here that’s audible enough to be annoying, but I know it’s nothing compared to when the house next door sells. That’ll be maddening! I still can’t believe they haven’t yet put restrictions on loud music or at least time restrictions. If they haven’t by now, though, they never will.

Not surprisingly, the email he sent in about not saving the lottery ticket (and we can’t imagine why any of the winners would’ve read the ultra-fine print and saved the losing tickets) hasn’t generated a response.

We ran into a coworker of his the other day. We run into them quite often, actually, since this is such a small town. The religious nut at work knows the old lady next door. Says she’s religious, too. Better them than the freeloaders.

Yesterday was annoying around here between music in front and barking in back. The music didn’t last long, but the barking went on for hours and I was like, can’t anyone hear this? Isn’t anyone going to do something??? To know dogs will be a lifelong problem for me makes me want to scream! And music, too.

Tom thinks I’ll win a gift card soon. Hope he’s right!

The last two days have been incredibly exciting with one big letdown in the middle of it all.

For starters, I’m winning more than I can keep track of! Now they’re getting me in the middle of the month, too. I think they’re going to get me more than once on the 31st what with all the sweeping I’ve been doing. It’s literally consuming 90% of my life!

I was pissed to have gotten a message saying that I won a prize that had been forfeited because it had been sent by UPS and then returned to them. They said they made “several” attempts to reach me yet it was the first I’d heard about it. I wrote back saying, “To say you’ve made several attempts to reach me is BULLSHIT!” Then they replied saying they were sorry I didn’t get anything and would still like to send me something. It was a common prize pack consisting of The Misfits paraphernalia. They’re a band of some kind. I told him he could hold the beanie and stickers and send T-shirts and CDs, and I apologized for swearing at him. He said he understood and that the stuff would be sent to the new address via UPS. I have no interest in this stuff, but Tom needs new T-shirts. Most of his have holes and stains on them.

Then I received two surprise DVDs in the mail, along with two win notifications. One was for a single DVD, the other was for season two of Hogan’s Heroes. We don’t care for any of them, so we’ll leave them sealed up. Then once we get a little collection going, we’ll sell them off.

Yesterday, even Tom won like crazy. He won an X-box 360. This thing isn’t going to be on the market till November 22nd and has a retail value of $580, including all the stuff he’s going to get with it. He’ll be receiving two coupons for 12-packs of Mountain Dew, 5 shirts, 5 hats, 1 game, and invitations to invite others to play with it along with you. That’s why they call it a party pack, though our party will just consist of the two of us and the rat. I may not need to buy a bigger drive after all. We won’t know for sure till we get it. But once he rips more of my Charlie’s Angels episodes, we’ll need to put them somewhere. Instead of buying season two, though, I’m just going to rent it and rip it. It’s so much easier to have them stored on the hard drive so I can just click on the title of the one I want, rather than to have to load DVDs.

Where we really got all fired up over nothing was when the mailman came with a registered letter yesterday that I miraculously slept through. I guess my subconscious must’ve written his knocking off to the pounding beat of the zillions of car stereos that go by. When I got up a couple of hours later and looked at the slip he left, my first thought was that it was Arizona out to harass us again. Whenever it’s something bad, they leave no sender name. However, this one said the sender was from the Oregon Lottery!

When Tom came home he told me he had a losing ticket which said to enter the number of any losing tickets into a drawing that was held about two months ago. Being a losing ticket, though, he threw it out afterward. Meanwhile, he jumped online last night to see what it could possibly be and found that there was 1 grand prize winner drawn on the 6th for 3 grand, and 14 for $500. Naturally, we got all excited figuring we could at least get the new bed out of the way so we could move on to other things we want to get. If we were real, real lucky, we could win the 3 grand and put a grand towards the move. That’d put us a third of the way there as far as the $2,500 we want to have for the move on top of his unemployment which just went up as far as what he’s eligible for, along with his pay, since it’s based on your income.

However, it turned out to be nothing but a cruel tease, so we learned when we went to the post office today. All we got out of it was good exercise because all it was was a letter (and I don’t know why they had to send this certified) saying that we won $500, but in order to claim it we’d need to provide them with numbers from the ticket, but we don’t have the ticket! What a bummer. A total pisser! I was pissed and bummed, but it would’ve been way worse had we lost out on a potential 3 grand! At least we have the other wins to look forward to and he’s still making good money, too. In fact, we put the first $100 towards the California move in a special container, and that was pretty emotional for me.

He’s still going to email them and explain that we moved and he no longer has the ticket, and ask what his alternatives are to claiming the money, but we’re sure it won’t do us any good.

We should still have the mattress by early November. Then I’ll go back to my original plan of rotating between big and small purchases. After the bed, which should be about $150 of our extra money, I’m going to get a basic Esme doll in a violet teddy, violet strappy sandals, and violet eyes. Her hair is a coppery color. Sable, I think they call it. Then I’ll probably get the headboard/shelves, another doll, then the bed’s platform, another doll, then a new comforter. I have a separate savings for things we need at K-Mart – new silverware, bath towels, clothes, etc. I’ve only gotten a few new pieces of clothing in years. It just hasn’t been a high priority for me, but I could really use new sports bras and a pair of pants, too.

I got the Tyler doll on Wednesday. They’ve gotten way better at making them. I don’t care for the jointed elbows because they don’t look as nice, but I like how the legs are more poseable. They now also swivel at the waist and even the upper body can bend left to right. Some now even have bendable wrists. I’m sure I’ll end up with one of those someday. I compiled a list of about 7 different dolls I want, as well as some outfits.

Anyway, unlike my other Tyler doll who’s a blue-eyed brunette with forward-glancing eyes, this one’s a redhead with green side-glancing eyes. They both have ponytails, only this one’s lower and her hair is parted at the side. The other sweeps straight back.

With the way we’ve been winning and shopping, I just may wish I could be on days more often just to collect packages! Still, I’d rather be woken up every day for fun stuff, than once in a while for some rude, inconsiderate asshole.

We also got the new vacuum. It’s by far the best we’ve ever had. It’s so compact and lightweight compared to the old one. It’s 11 pounds. The other was 20. It’s out front waiting till Tom unloads the truck this weekend and puts the stuff in the utility room. He wants to vacuum it out first, then we’ll probably dump it. Either way, it won’t be moving with us. We also have a hand vacuum and that’s enough.

We also got the cable to use one of the laser printers. It can’t do color, but this one’s much newer, nicer, faster and lightweight compared to the one I used in Maricopa.

Tomorrow I hope to get my order from Yves. I’m a little worried about them right now. They sent me a receipt for my order, but they’re ignoring all my emails about it. That’s not like them at all, so I wonder if something’s wrong.

About 4 nights ago I heard a mouse up in the attic chewing around where the heater’s vent pipe goes through. I haven’t heard it since.

Blondie’s on my lap right now. He’s my sweeping partner. Sits on my lap for hours at a time. He’s asleep at the moment. He’s been a little perkier, though nothing like he was a few months ago. His fur’s thinning quite a bit, too.

Today I received a win notice saying I won movie tickets to a premiere in Louisiana, so that’s not good. Also, I got an email saying that after having my prize returned to them that they’d sent via UPS, they had to forfeit the prize to someone else. I was like, what prize? So I replied to the email saying I had no idea I’d won anything from them and explained that we moved. It was probably just a book, but it’s all the more reason to sign on with a mailing company down in California with all the moving we do. Mail not related to the sweeps can go directly to us, but the sweeps need an address that’s not going to change as long as we stay in the Sacramento area.

Anyway, it should be only a matter of time before I hit a big one, even if it takes a few years to do it. Having 9 wins in 5 months is encouraging.

Got a letter from Mary today. She’s happy we’re happy. I guess Monster’s in the funny farm now crying insanity. Then they’ll make the bastard stand trial when they think he’s competent enough for it, though I’m sure he always was. I can’t help but wonder how the hell much longer is this going to go on. Maybe Mary isn’t getting out soon after all. She doesn’t think she’ll end up in prison, but nobody wants to think they’ll end up in prison.

UPS will be coming here tomorrow, the next day, and the next! First comes Tyler, then the cable, then the vacuum.

I never thought I’d get a win notice in the middle of the night, but I just did. I was 1 of 5 to win a DVD. I figured I’d win a DVD sooner or later. Next will probably be a T-shirt or a CD. It was a one-time email entry made before I went premium. It was a one-star sweep that expired on the 30th. I figured they got me even though I didn’t have any dreams. Someone’s gotta snag your name when you make thousands of entries each month! I wonder if all I’ll ever win are 1-star sweeps. And I wonder if I’ll always be 1 of 5 winners? I wouldn’t care how many stars or winners there were if I could win something good!

I finally got caught up on the sweeps, though it’s still much more work on a daily basis than it used to be. That’s fine with me, though. It gives me a life and a purpose. Especially when I win! I expect a win notification soon even though I haven’t had any dreams since the one I had a couple of days after we moved. I’ve been so busy that I’ve neglected my book big time. I don’t think I’m going to continue with the story-writing, though I will try to finish this one even if it takes a year. The sweeping’s pretty much become my entire life, and although writing’s fun, I’d rather work at something that has a shot at producing something.

It’s hard to believe that the same people who had to cancel Webshots, cancel Netflix, and wonder how they were going to pay their bills not even a year ago, now have a Tonner doll on the way, plus some beauty supplies, plus a cable to bring the laser printer to life, plus the brand new vacuum we’ve been needing for too many years to keep track of!

And of course, I just got an oil order, even if half a dozen of the fragrances are wrong. I’m definitely, definitely done with this guy. You just never know what you’re gonna get from him. Everything is hit or miss with him, whereas I prefer to get what I order.

We walked up to Circle K today. It was a bit more of a workout since it’s mostly uphill, but I needed it. Especially with the way I’ve been eating. We’ve been walking together a few times a week.

Except for a few minor irritations such as music from across the street, barking from across the canal, and the neighbors slamming their car doors (I can’t figure out when they sleep or why they need to slam the doors so hard every 2 to 3 times they come and go), and the usual city sounds, today was a damn good day.

Tom got a good review at work, even though he took a wasp home with him. He said he felt like something had been crawling on him all the way home, and when he finally got home, he found that it was a wasp. He’s lucky he didn’t get stung.

Anyway, today I got 3 movies to look forward to, a pizza at one of the pizza parlors downtown, a bamboo plant, patchouli incense, and my oils.

This bamboo plant is curly, has two shoots instead of one, and is much taller than the other one. The other one’s about 7”, but this one’s over 2’. I got a 100-pack of patchouli sticks from the same Asian chick that sells bamboo plants. Although all good things must come to an end and I don’t expect us to stay as rich as we’ve become forever (and believe me when I say we’re rich compared to how we were a year ago or even 6 months ago), I’d say the lucky bamboo plant is the most likely source of our good fortune over anything else. Why? Because the horseshoe didn’t seem to do the previous tenants much good, and other things have been tried before that haven’t always worked.

Bob got the oils right on, amazingly, although there are a few that smell a bit off. I’ve learned, though, that when cool, the oils don’t always smell like they smell when burning, so I won’t worry just yet that the cedar kind of smells like pine. Meanwhile, he hasn’t billed us for the holly berry he’s out of stock on. I got 20 oils today which took an hour to dip. I now only have about 160 blanks left.

The rat is sitting on my lap now. He’s been doing that lately where he climbs up my leg and sits with me while I work.

I’ve been on a major sweeping frenzy. That’s because I went premium on Saturday! I was sweeping away as usual, got up for a few minutes, then returned to my computer to find additional features on the page. The ‘shazam’ feature alone is worth the $30 a year. It allows me to open every sweep on a page at once. I can now also have an unlimited number of sweeps in ‘my sweeps’ and I have access to the premium sweeps too, of course. I’m still catching up on those. I’ve caught up on the dailies, the 24-hours, the unknowns, the weeklies and the monthlies, but I need to catch up on the singles. There are a couple thousand of them! Oh, how I’d gladly settle for a $500 Walmart gift card! That’d buy the complete bed ensemble and more. The premium sweeps are much like the freebies, though there are more bigger prizes there. In some cases, the 2nd and 3rd prizes are better than the grand prize.

Wednesday will mark two years since I cut my hair. It’s gone from barely brushing my shoulders to just below my waist since then.

I’ve decided that November would be a good time to send Paula’s package. That way it’ll be more spaced out evenly with her birthday package. I was going to send it in January after the Christmas rush was over. She’s going to faint when she sees all the CDs I’m sending! We just don’t need them anymore since we ripped them and made them into MP3s.

Bob says he’s shipping the 21 4-oz bottles of oils I ordered out today. He’s out of one of them, though.

I’ll also be ordering from Yves at the end of the week.

My ear – tooth – whatever it is, has been acting up again. I guess I’m just meant to suffer in that department. The other night I dreamt that the second molar up top fell out. Ironically, that’s the tooth with the killer cavity. I hope that was a premonition and not just a dream! I’d love to be rid of that tooth.

Tom’s found a way to compress my Charlie’s Angels episodes so I can cut out of having to get season two. It will be a lot more convenient to have them stored as files on my computer so I don’t have to insert the CDs. Then all we’ll have to do is get a DVD recorder and find a station that’s running the episodes she was in that they’re not going to put out on DVD so I can have those, too. Better yet, if I could record them straight onto the hard drive, that’d be even better, though I’d need a bigger drive to store them all.

Later…

Bendejo Bob’s being his usual self. When I emailed him yesterday asking for a tracking number, he said he didn’t work the day before because his daughter’s going to Mexico for three months on Wednesday, and so he had to do dinner with her and her best friend who’s going with her. Meanwhile, he’ll send me a tracking number today which I haven’t received and I know I won’t. At least not for a few weeks anyway. Besides, I know he’s got to play with me a while for getting the last order free, even if it took two months to get it.

I’m not quite caught up with entering the premium sweeps that have yet to expire, but I’m getting there. I swept for 14 hours yesterday. If that doesn’t win us something I’d be way surprised!

Later…

Unfuckingbelievable! Bob just sent me a tracking number! Now all I have to do is hope he sent it to the right address and didn’t fuck up the order itself too badly. He still owes me the one he was out of too unless he just got it in and had time to throw it in the package.

Yesterday turned out to be an awesome day! Not without next door worrying me first, though. Again I thought they were moving because they were loading stuff up and getting pretty annoying about it too, with loud door slamming. The same guy returned in another car that was red like hers. I was surprised to look out at one point and see two red cars there. According to Tom, everyone hunts here, and yesterday was the first day of hunting season, so I guess they were going hunting.

Tom said he saw another car over there the other day. The person pulled in, knocked on her door, then took off. Guess I was asleep when that happened.

What made yesterday so great was that he got a surprise raise! He was so stunned when he saw his paycheck that he wondered if he’d gotten someone else’s check. Guess they just forgot to mention it. This is a really good raise too, compared to the last time. The last time they only jumped him a quarter. This time they jumped him $1.15, so he’s gone from $7.60 an hour to $8.75. Not bad for an area where the cost of living is so low. This is $40 extra a week. He’s working today, but that extra $88 we thought he’d get today is going to be an extra $105!

I may get some beauty supplies from Yves Rocher real soon since we’re low on lotion and shower gel. I miss them and the free shipping and free gifts they give you with orders over $40.

I had a moving vibe for May of next year, but it faded fast. Moving in May makes no sense. We couldn’t possibly save up enough money by then to spring us out of state, so that’d mean either something really good or something really bad would have to happen for us to move then. I’d have to win us a lot of money or things would have to get so bad here that we just couldn’t stick it out and we had to leave.

For now, although I’m still hampered by occasional ear/tooth pain, things have been going so much better for us. I’ve been happier in the month that we’ve lived here than in all 10 months we lived at the duplex.