We went to pick up the mail and I was reminded of just how much I hate the city. It’s one thing to do shopping and errands in it, but I’m sooo glad we don’t have to live in it! I don’t know how long it’ll be before we get bounced back into it, but for now, I’m glad to escape the chaos!

So are the new rats we got. This time we did it right! One’s a little shy, but not nearly as skittish as them bitches we made the mistake of getting. They’re both males and quite young, just a couple of months old. The others had to be between 4-6 months. It’s hard to find them this young. I’ve been calling them Brownhead and Blackhead for now, since they both have dark heads and light bodies with dark stripes running down their backs. Brownhead, who’s a little smaller than Blackhead, is my favorite so far. Despite still being reserved, they both let us pat them and pick them up, though they’re still not into being picked up much yet. Still, on day one we’re already way further with them than we ever got with the last pair. I took some pictures which I sent Jessie, who I tried calling a few times but wasn’t home.

We also stopped at Safeway so he could get a money order for the rent, then grabbed a few things to hold us over till he goes to Walmart tomorrow.

Other than a letter from Mary, there wasn’t anything too good other than a Neutrogena Wave facial deep cleanser. Just some crappy wins like hats and a timer or calculator of some kind. Tom will check it out later and see just what it is.

A part of me regrets dumping the rats. Maybe bad rats really are better than no rats. We’ll be on the hunt again for rats this weekend, and this time I’ll try to get males. They may not be as smart, but they sure do tend to be nicer!

The weather’s been nice and it’s still quiet almost all the time. It’s so nice to be surrounded by nothing but nature and to look out at a rocky hillside in front and nothing but trees in back. Been working on my book since I get to do it in such a peaceful setting that’s only disrupted by an occasional bark. One of the fun things about writing is that I get to do what I can’t do in reality. I can’t bring Tinkerbell back for real, but I can bring her back to life in my stories.

I finally won something good – Glamorazzi perfume. It’s kind of expensive with a value of $35 even though it’s only 1.7 oz.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with Tom; Jesse’s not going to screw us over. But not for the reasons he believes he won’t. See, I wasn’t kidding when I said something up there loves to protect our perps. Yet for the first time ever, we’re the ones with the leverage here. Do you know how easy it’d be to burn this place down? Therefore, I doubt God (or whatever) would let him screw us when it’d be so easy to fight back.

It seems unlikely that Jesse forgot to finish the roof like he forgot to get a screen for the slider. We don’t care if he remembers either one of them to tell you the truth.

Tom’s going to pay the rent right on the 1st, even though it’s a Sunday. He doesn’t want them to get in the habit of expecting the rent to be paid early.

Tom turned 2 bucks into 80 bucks yesterday at the racetrack! This wasn’t by using his program but by his own handicapping some races with huge payoffs. He didn’t expect to win thousands, of course, but he didn’t expect the $80 either. So now he has plenty of money in the account to start placing some bets using the program once he irons out any kinks that may be in it.

Last night we heard a loud bang as if something fell against the house. Whatever it was set the dogs off, but when he went out to look around he didn’t find anything unusual. I glanced out back when the sun came up but didn’t see anything. Didn’t hear anything either other than a rooster.

We got plate holders the other day and Tom helped me hang my 4 decorative plates up yesterday. After I get the few dolls I have my heart set on, I think I’ll take a break from dolls for a while since I’ve got so many and focus on some beautiful home décor pieces by Lena Liu and Thomas Kinkade. One of my plates is by Lena Liu, the one my mother loved and borrowed for a while. I was going to send it back to her, but I doubt I’ll do that at this point even if I hear from her again someday. Most of their stuff is cheaper than dolls! They have a lot of decorative plates, figurines, ornaments, carousels, music boxes, wall hangings and more. These consist of colorful paintings mostly of flowers, butterflies and hummingbirds.

I dyed my hair burgundy this morning. It sure was easier to do at this length, but with a poorly lit bathroom and a mauve tub, it was hard to tell if I rinsed it well enough. I think I did, though. The bottom half is darker because that’s where the old faded black dye was. The rest looks great. Wish it could stay that way all the time and I wish it didn’t grow so damn fast, too. I swear it’s grown since it’s been cut just 8 days ago. Jessie says she loves it (I just emailed her pictures the other day), but that I wasn’t smiling at all in those pictures. I’ll send her a burgundy smile real soon!

The weather’s been cold and rainy, not good for late May, but at least the wins are picking up again. There were a few piddly wins waiting at the mail place yesterday. Piddly, but wins nonetheless.

Tom’s about to work on the horses again. It’s nice to know that the worst-case scenario wouldn’t be so bad, and that’s us remaining here if they don’t work out. Why rent a place in a retirement community for twice as much, when we can just stay here where it’s no doubt even quieter? We’d only move if we could buy something outright that’d be bigger and newer.

It feels so good to know that Tom doesn’t have to cash his paycheck this week and that he can wait till next Friday and cash two at once! I hope to hell we never go through another slow-motion nightmare again in our lives! I’ll never take the good times for granted again, that’s for sure. I think of Michelle in the office right now. Tom won’t be signing in today or having to do laundry, and there’s plenty of food, too!

Jesse still hasn’t finished the roof. Hope he doesn’t wait till I’m back on nights again! At least we finally managed to make it a little easier to sleep by plugging the sound machine into the stereo so it could be played louder. It also helps not to take Claritin and to have the remote control for the cooler. We still need to set the thermostat, though, so I don’t have to wake up hot when he’s not here to adjust it. Still, going to sleep stressed out over Jesse waking me up along with the heat, sure beats the kind of stress I went through at the motel, wondering how we’d pay for the room, for our stuff, for gas, for food, etc. Had we died back there, we’d never have lived to enjoy coming home yesterday morning with tons of food and nothing but the sound of raindrops falling on the roof.

Tom woke up with a bad belly, something he seems to have a lot lately, even when he doesn’t overeat. Should I be worried about this? I hope there’s nothing going on, yet it seems that while God was quick to answer most of my prayers from October till we left the motel, nothing listens to me here. Not for the most part, anyway. I’ve prayed for him to not be so run down by his job, to find a better job, for the horses to take off, for me to start winning again, for me not to have to live with ear pain nearly every day, which we now suspect could be an elevation thing. Right now we’re close in elevation to Phoenix, so I’m hoping it will get better in time. Meanwhile, after Memorial Day, we hope he finds a job before they even think of letting him go because things are getting really slow at work lately. We don’t care at this point if it doesn’t pay more. We just want the security and the benefits, although if he’s able to work closer to home, it’ll seem like a better-paying job even if it’s not. He’s now paying $200 a month in just gas! If God isn’t supposed to make any mistakes, then why do Arabs exist???

As for the horses, he hasn’t even had time to work on them, and I haven’t won shit. Because I haven’t been winning much, and because gas is outrageous, we cut the mail runs back to just once a week. So if he comes back with no wins or win-notices this Saturday, I’m going to seriously consider hanging up sweeping for a while and just get into writing more often. It isn’t every day we get to live in a place this quiet, so I ought to take advantage of it while it lasts. I doubt I could bring myself to quit sweeping altogether, though. I just wouldn’t bother entering dailies every day unless they were instants or for huge prizes. Instead, I’d just make sure everything got entered at least once, then leave the rest to fate.

The rats are gone now. Tom left that decision up to me, and well, I got sick of trying to get them to be what they could never be; sociable, friendly rats who want to interact with us other than to get food from us. It seems bad rats stay bad and good rats stay good. There’s no changing them or knowing exactly what you’re getting till you get them home. When we can turn an aggressive control freak like my mother into a mellow, sensitive soul, then we can change rats’ personalities. It really sucks that they turned out to be the way they were, and it sucks all the more that I can never have my Tinkerbell again. Someday we’ll try again and we’ll keep whatever we get at that point, and call it meant to be.

I dumped them in the ditch down past the shed. I first made sure no one was out and about at Jesse’s place, but it’s so hard to see through the trees anyway. There are only a few places where if you stand in just the right spot you can see through. I once saw someone standing on a deck up there, but only through this one little gap. Nonetheless, my flip-flops seemed to echo off the hillside as I walked them down to the edge of the ditch. I then dumped them out of the pail I had them in and shooed them downward. I thought they may actually like it better in the wild since they never cared for people, figuring they could survive on the plant life as well as the ditch water in what’s not a harsh climate, but Tom thinks that cats will get them within a week. Oh well. Whatever happens is going to happen. They were not only not friendly with us, but they fought like hell with each other all night long, and even that got old.

Speaking of my mom and dad, it’s now been half a year since I’ve heard from them, so yes, this has to mean one thing and one thing only; while they may be ok with my writing to them, they don’t wish to write to me or to keep in touch in any way. If there was something wrong, someone would’ve told me. Therefore, I’ve put the package I had intended to send them on hold for now. The big test will come next month. If they don’t contact us around our anniversary and his birthday, then I’ll know I can pretty much count on not hearing from them again. Again, I hate to bother with those who don’t want to bother with me, although I’d be totally lying if I said I wasn’t gladder than not that they’ve chosen to ignore me. I don’t get why they’d help get us out of the jam we were in just to go on ignoring me, but we’ll always be grateful just the same. Despite our gratitude, however, their saving us doesn’t detract from the fact that they’re just not the type of people I care to associate with. They still are who they are and they’ve still done the things they’ve done. People just don’t literally “forgive and forget.” At least not like we may sometimes wish we could! If you want to literally forgive and forget someone who’s wronged you, really wronged you, then you better hope for a case of clear-cut amnesia, cuz that’s just about what it would take!

Jesse hasn’t returned to finish the roof or cut up the fallen tree. I just hope that when he does, he does so when I’m awake!

I stopped the Claritin for now since all it seems to do is mess up my sleep. It doesn’t always snuff my appetite or help my ear anyway.

I’m still at 142 and my body’s fighting against losing any more weight big time by being stuck a lot. I’m trying to make up for it with water loss by drinking the tea, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that this is as low as I’ll go. You know cutting back hasn’t cut it for me once I got over 35. I’d have to practically starve to get off anymore and that’s no fun way to live.

Ashley has new shoes on their way from Massachusetts. Pink slides I got on eBay for just $17 total, including shipping. I’ve now got $43 in spending money, and of course, the tax rebate is just a couple of weeks away. After we get that, we’ll get a new mailbox here in Auburn.

Paula can expect her package to arrive right around the 30th, her 41st birthday. She’s another one I wonder if I’ll ever hear from again. She’s probably been calling our old number. I made sure to give her our new one, so maybe she’ll call soon enough.

I was going to call Jessie this weekend, but since I’m still sort of on nights, I’ll do it next weekend instead.

The weather’s been cooler and we’re in for some rain over the next few days. He got the same room-darkening shades that stick on that I had in the Klam dump for the two side windows in the living room that are single-paned. The new double-paned window that Jesse recently installed didn’t need them, but the old ones sure did for really hot days. Tom aimed his temperature-telling gadget on it when it was near 100º and it was 130º!

I’m now down 5 pounds in 2 weeks at 142 pounds. I thought that was a normal rate, but Tom says it’s too fast and why I may be feeling so out of it today. It’s weird that I’m still dropping. I haven’t had any tea, Claritin or been dieting for a few days now. Haven’t decided yet if I’ll take a break or chuck 5 more pounds. As short as I am, just a few pounds lost or gained really shows, so we can easily see a difference. I’m down 2-3” all around. Of course I’m exercising, too.

The rats are still skittish, but since they don’t bite and are a little friendlier, we may keep them. They sure are cute. I’ll take some pictures once I can get them to stay still long enough. We both agree that these crazies are our compensation for the last rat being so great, as this dry spell I’ve been having with no wins is our compensation for the 9K. Part of that win was my influencing it out of sheer desperation. It was either that or staying cooped up in what was basically a glorified jail cell forever!

Jesse’s fucking motorcycle woke me up after 4 hours of sleep this morning, though I fell back asleep shortly afterward without an attack. I’m just destined not to be able to sleep anywhere in the daytime no matter where I live! And why is it that Tom can sleep through this kind of shit and more and I can’t? At least one of us can. Nonetheless, I told God, “Hey, you gave me this schedule problem, so why don’t you at least allow me to sleep whenever I’m scheduled to sleep?” But I think that’s part of the sleep curse itself. Not just to curse me out of keeping a schedule, but to curse me out of sleeping well, too. I only sleep well at night.

Tom says he’s surprised at how good my hair looks and how well it fits my face. I just like the comfort and ease it brings. Washing it was so easy and it dried so fast! Old habits do die hard, though. When I was getting dressed and I pulled my shirt over my head I automatically went to pull my hair out, but there was nothing to pull out!

Gone is over 2’ of hair. Yeah, I finally got sick enough of it to have Tom hack it off, and soon I’ll be dying it auburn. I considered going only up to my waist so I could still braid it but then said nah, I need a break from it. All of it. So it’s been cut to my shoulders. I now have a little stub of a ponytail that’s so lightweight compared to the heavy long drape I was shrouded in before. No more having to wait an hour for it to dry or having to braid it and tie it in a knot just to sleep with it. But it grows so fast that by the time I get to missing the really long hair despite its hassles, it’ll be well on its way to being long again. In 2012 I’ll sit on it again.

It’s been extremely hot and even humid, too. I love the moisture the humidity gives my skin, but it’s been causing more attacks and congestion, so Tom got a de-humidifier for $150. I don’t know why waking up too early means I have to have attacks lately, but the only thing we could come up with was the humidity. Either way, my sleep is so cursed no matter what when I try to sleep during the daytime. The Claritin causes me to sleep worse than I did in the city, so I’m taking a day or so off from it.

I got down to 143, but I’m sure I’m already back up a pound or two. The weight will never come off unless I either starve or they come out with a magic pill. If they haven’t already come up with some magic pill, it’s unlikely they ever will, and I sure as hell won’t ever develop enough willpower to starve it off, so I’ll just stay fat and enjoy life. I don’t have to be thin to do the things I like to do, although being heavier does make it a bit harder to get around and I expect my weight will only keep climbing throughout my life, but hey, there’s nothing I can do about it.

Jesse came down Friday for the trash which is now going to be picked up on Thursdays. He said that when it’s cooler he’ll come cut up the tree that went down. Yeah, and I’m sure it will be when I’m trying to sleep. At least he and Maryann haven’t turned out to be the pests I started to worry they may be. Still, they talk about a washroom, a back deck, repainting the outside, and the roof still isn’t done yet and it’s like, enough is enough or drop the rent, will ya?!

We ended up spending $320 at Best Buy yesterday evening, so now we have to watch our money for the rest of the month until the tax rebate arrives in a few weeks. If nothing serious breaks, we should be ok. The vacuum finally broke, though it was a cheap piece of shit that we knew wouldn’t last long. So a new vacuum was one of the things we got. This one’s bigger, heavier, more powerful, and twice the cost.

We also got a DVD player and new headphones for me. I’ve been wanting new headphones for quite a while now. The ones I had, which I got when we moved into the duplex, were never that comfortable and they couldn’t handle bass well. They too, were cheap junk and so they broke as well.

What happened with Jessie was that she wrote a letter about a customer that she accidentally sent to the customer. I was cracking up over that one as it must’ve been some letter! Although her husband David doesn’t make much money as a machinist, she may try to seek out a part-time job that pays better so she can afford to be home with her daughter more often. Daycare costs almost as much as our rent! I’m so glad that’s one financial hardship we’ve never had to face on top of all the others.

Yesterday evening as the sun was setting, I was crossing the living room when all of a sudden I heard this crackling sound. I first thought of firecrackers till it registered in my brain as all wrong. Like what would Jesse be doing up the hill setting off firecrackers, right? So I stepped outside but didn’t see anything at first. I heard sounds of something slipping and sliding and thought animals were on the roof. After all, this isn’t the city where people are the number one ruler. This is the country where animals rule. Animals live with people in the city, but here in the woods, we live with them. But then I saw that a tree went down at the base of the driveway, so I texted Tom at work and let him know. Fortunately, he was able to get around it. I left Maryann a message since Jesse never answers his phone, but haven’t heard from them. Jesse might be out of town on a construction job cuz we haven’t heard him drive in or out at all today. Tom said he went to pull it out since the trunk was only about 5” around, but then all kinds of trees started firecracking around him, which then explained why so many people are out chainsawing trees lately. Some trees grow too fast for the branches to support the new growth. It’s a good thing the trailer and shed are set back far enough so they can’t be attacked by any trees! It was one of the palmish ones that went down.

Since no one’s been down to deal with it and all’s been quiet up the hill, I wonder if Jesse’s finally working again. I hope so! With him working that should mean fewer motors, less barking and more privacy. When I was outside a couple of days ago in the late afternoon I heard him call out to some guy, “What time are you going to be here tomorrow in the morning?” He definitely loves to work on things. I just hope he’s not prepping the place to sell it anytime soon! He’s mentioned doing projects at his place, too.

Today’s the third day out of all the days we’ve been here so far that I haven’t heard the dogs at all.

I’m very happy for the gays of California! The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to deny gay marriages. While they had civil unions, they now allow gay marriage like Massachusetts, giving them a full range of benefits. Of course the bigoted religious conservatives are going to fight for an amendment come November.

Jessie said friends of her father are getting married on the Massachusetts side of his land (I didn’t know there was a Massachusetts side) that are the nicest guys.

These rats have turned out to be no fun, I’m sorry to say. They’re quick to run up to us when we get near the cage and they’ll take food from us, but they’re so damn skittish that they won’t let us pick them up, nor will they stand still and allow themselves to be patted. I’d say we’re definitely going to get rid of them soon. We just don’t know if we’re going to turn them loose in the woods here or bring them back to the store. I miss rats who want to socialize with us! I miss my Tinkerbell and other rats we’ve had like Blondie and Little Buddy who would run to me, follow me around, sit on my lap and let me scratch their backs. I hate rats that I have to scare into going back into their cages, and that run from me the moment I try to handle them. But the sucky thing about it is that you just can never know what you’re bringing home till after you get it home.

I started taking Claritin D again to drain my inner ear congestion and just like before, it’s causing me to wake up a lot during my sleep, and to lose my appetite as well. Maybe there will be an ‘after’ picture after all. I was starting to doubt it for a while there, though I’m still older and not expecting to get down to the 110 pounds I should be. But I might lose 10 pounds or so.

Later…

Maryann did leave a message after all. She said Jesse would be down in the morning (no doubt after I’ve fallen asleep) to take care of the tree. She said he heard it fall too, but didn’t know where it was.

Week 1 on the diet only dropped me two pounds. Tom says that’s a reasonable amount to expect to lose each week. Yeah, but that’s only if it keeps working. If not I’ll have to make some adjustments and hope for the best. We got a new scale, though, and I was right about the one we had being way too low. When I checked out the before picture Tom took I could clearly see right away there was no way I could be under 140. So Tom got a new digital scale and sure enough, the 137 the old scale told me I started at was really 147. Who’d have ever thought I’d gain so much weight?! Imagine if I’d had kids? I’d be around 200 now! It’s perfectly normal, though, like it or not. Your average person gains 30-50 pounds once they hit middle age.

Jessie had a bad day, but I didn’t understand her email. Something about a customer’s note, her boss being pissed, her chances not good for getting the job she wants because she has no accounts receiving skills. Then why would they even consider interviewing her in the first place and getting her hopes up for nothing?

My worst Netwinner nightmares have come true, and we’re out $225. They’ve finally admitted they can’t afford to pay their members, although they’re blaming it on “fraudulent” players rather than their own stupidity, and have credited us with double the number of points instead for prize draws. So I’m just going to redeem my points for their stupid contests I’ll almost certainly never win, then be done with them for good.

All good things really do come to an end.

Shortly after 4:00, Jesse rode down on his ATV with some kid in his late teens to early 20s. I thought they were going to finish the roofing project or get something from the pile of stuff he has across from the shed, but instead, they just turned around and left. So just what was up with that? Was he just checking on his stuff? Assuming no one was home because he saw no vehicle here? I never went out because I was cooking and not exactly presentable. He’ll just have to learn to call first. I have a feeling that even after all the home improvement projects are done, not seeing the owner for months at a time as was the case in the Klam, won’t be the case here. Oh, well. No place is perfect, and despite the scattered barks and engine-gunning sprees that seem to be a thing of the country, it’s been heaven! I still wish we owned our own place, though!

Yesterday Jesse put up the support beams and today the wooden planks. It really helps shade the front of the house. He’s on one of his engine-gunning sprees right now, so I’ve got the music cranked up. My new 13-dollar-a-month Rhapsody radio, since my 6-dollar Yahoo radio is no longer available for purchase. Microsoft is buying them out.

It’s been otherwise peaceful around here. I heard voices up at Jesse’s place, so maybe he doesn’t live alone. Either that or he has a lot of company because we’ve heard voices several times up there. I don’t feel as if I have as much privacy as I’d like for singing, but I do it anyway. I just don’t do it every day. I just hope the home improvement trip is just about done! I also hope Jesse goes back to work, but as it is so far, he’s always home, always outdoors. Figures, huh? I wonder if he’ll be outside as much in the winter. Probably, because we’ll be here. If only it was just us on this land and with a bigger, newer house! It’d be just about 100% quiet and private.

The attacks didn’t stop till a day or two after we washed the blanket, and I came to wonder if it weren’t the little bottle of Vanilla Fields perfume I got at Big Lots that may’ve caused them. I’ll find out tonight, as I just sprayed some on me for the first time in a few days.

I’ve finally been sleeping better too, but that’s mostly because I’m on days.

Today started off rather annoyingly as Jesse’s dogs went off longer than usual this morning and he just ignored them. Tom thinks he was leaving and that’s what set them off. Sure hope this doesn’t become a regular thing! If Jesse was there and really did ignore them, how rude! He did mention going to some hospital for some family member today, and that’s why he’s not working on the porch roof till tomorrow. Other than that, he’s always here, so it seems. Tom thinks he’ll return to work someday, but for now, we’re basically helping him stay put. If his house and the land are paid for, he doesn’t need to work all that much with the amount we’re paying him each month. Anyway, the only thing that keeps it from being 100% quiet here are the dogs. It’s still 98% quiet, and that’s a far cry better than I ever expected to ever get!

Yesterday turned out to be so much fun! We both had a blast. I’m so glad we got to survive in order to enjoy it. We had our fun in Auburn. First we went to Denny’s, then to Goodwill. He checked out electronics while I got a couple of surprisingly nice dolls. One is a Barbie I tried to win and didn’t. The other is a 15” vinyl flamenco dancer doll. Her features are distinct and well done. She has a lovely face, nice hands, and a pretty costume. She’s just a bit tall for her body proportions.

Our third stop was K-Mart where I got a 2’ statue of a wolf that’s way cool looking. Very realistic and detailed. Could be a coyote. Don’t know for sure. The howling wolf/coyote has a sculpted tongue and teeth. Tom got a pair of black flip-flops, a new pillow, some line to string a clothesline with, hooks to hang my wind chimes up, and a new outdoor mat. The mat they had here was a scrap piece of carpet that was all yucky, so I threw it by the door we never use. I got a colorful floral mat to put by the door we do use, plus a floral seat cushion for the kitchen chair I’m going to use (Tom got a black futon and the perfect two-seater dinette a few days ago). Denise, who’s going to use the other chair, won’t mind sitting on the hardwood! I also got a beautiful black 10” ballerina bending over, lacing up her ballet slippers.

Our last stop was the best of all. The pet store! We ended up getting two rats, a mom and her baby. Mom was in with her two sons and one daughter, and Tom thinks she’s been knocked up by one of her sons. She’s a bit timid, but the baby’s friendly and curious. When I got up this morning, she ran to the door of her cage to greet me. That melted my heart. I missed that!

As I told Jessie, as soon as I get more familiar with the new camera we got, I’ll be sending tons of pictures of them, the land, the trailer (which looks much better on the inside than the outside), and of us. She’ll get my “before” picture first, then in a few months the “after” picture. Right now I’m 137 pounds with dark hair covering my ass. After a few months of 1200 cals, Oolong tea, and exercise, plus a serious haircut and dye job, she should see a slimmer version of me with shoulder-length auburn hair. Wish me luck!

Jessie says she’s going to try to get the job she regrets not taking last fall that’s advertising for employment. She says she has to get out of the “horror show” she’s working for now. They’ve been spiting her, and as I told her, having a job you hate is a horrible thing same as living in a place you hate. Better to take a lower-paying job where you’ll be treated better, than a higher-paying job with a bunch of back-stabbing snobs. I told her I’d pray for her and do spells and that she should take a moment each day to pray for the job, too. The more people that pray, and the more often, the better the chances are of receiving it. Especially if it’s something that’s good, that you can handle, that’s correct. At least it seems that way lately.

We’re getting settled, but still need to take old boxes and junk to the dump and get things rearranged better. We’re almost there, though! Jesse did the windows yesterday, and with Tom’s help, they got the job done in about an hour. He says he’s got an even better view than we do up at his place. I guess the land consists of 3 hills. At the very top is where he says he keeps all his junk. I guess that explains why the road forks up there. It fucking figures that the dogs just have to be on this side of his house. Tom says he thinks the reason we hardly hear them is that they are allowed indoors, but I think it’s because there’s not as much to bark at as there is in the city.

I contacted the Italy sweep agent and let her know that rough times have prevented me from contacting her sooner, then gave her our new address, but as I also told her, it still may be a year or two before we can take the trip.

Here’s both good and frustrating news. I got my beauty baskets from Spa Finder, and the DSL is now hooked up, but UPS hasn’t yet delivered the special modem it needs in order for us to use it. Talk about frustrating! It’s the 1st, so I’m not only swamped with tons of new sweeps, but I’ve still got two weeks’ worth to catch up on. I’m way backed up.

Other than the peace and quiet I’ve been enjoying, I haven’t been sleeping that great. It’s like something’s compensating me for finally being able to live in peace. I never sleep straight through. Either something wakes me up, like the hot water tank which makes a popping sound when it kicks on or off, or I wake up just because, or wheezing. Ever since we’ve been here, I’ve needed my inhaler nearly every day! It’s the strangest thing. We have no idea what’s causing the attacks, but we suspected it could be my new blanket, so we washed it.