Between 6 loads of laundry in our tiny little portable washer, a rat that never sleeps or wants to spend any time alone, and a husband I was enjoying hanging out with, I have been pretty busy so far today with little time for myself. Tonight I will probably get on with my story and things like that.

This rat definitely prefers to be the chaser as opposed to the chased. He really ran Tom ragged while I was in the shower, chasing him all around the living room. He continues to be loads of fun and he really loves hanging out with us. So much so that he’s a pest at times when I’m busy. I have to put him in his cage so he doesn’t get underfoot (literally) when I’m cleaning or doing things that take more concentration.

Things are continuing to be better, though I had some disturbing dreams last night. Tom assures me they’re nothing to worry about. I actually had tons of dreams, but the disturbing one is the only one I remember. We were living in someplace that might’ve actually been a two-bedroom, though I don’t know where it was or how old/new it was. Money was obviously a problem again and I was bitching to Tom about it, saying “Look how we live!” The bummy old furniture was rattier than anything we’d ever owned. Except for a few pieces, our furniture is actually kind of nice in reality. And even those pieces that are the least nice aren’t that bad.

In the next part of the dream Tom “found” Miss Perfect online in some forum and asked her to come see us. I guess the plan was to try to hit her for money when she got to us, though in reality, we’d discuss our real intentions up front, not that Miss Perfect would ever give a damn about us. And as Tom pointed out when I was telling him about the dream, she’s not the type to be very sociable online. Her life pretty much only consists of work, TV, and McDonald's. In fact, right this very minute she’s no doubt watching TV with a burger in one hand and fries in the other since it’s the weekend.

But the fact that I dreamt about money problems, be it in a realistic kind of way or not, always worries me after all we’ve been through. The dream ended with Miss Perfect coming to visit us, but I’m not sure if she helped us. When she arrived I ran up to her and gave her a hug she didn’t return, then she ordered a pizza and asked to borrow $35 in cash because she didn’t feel like running out to her car which was where she left her purse. I took Tom aside at one point and asked if he thought she would help us. He said, “I don’t know. If she doesn’t help us or pay back the $35 then we’ll be worse off than we are now.” The dream ended with me waking up the next day to find them gone. I ran into the living room to see if there was any cash lying around or a note from Tom, but there was nothing.

Tom is sure it doesn’t mean anything bad is going to happen, reminding me that pizzas don’t cost $35 and that the job is going well. We probably won’t know for a while if he’s going to get hired on, but according to him there’s been plenty of work, the work is straightforward, so he doesn’t expect to be laid off anytime soon if they’re going to end up doing that. In fact, he said that because I’ve done without things for so long I should indulge a little and take $50 a month to do what I want with as there would still be over $200 left in savings. Just maybe I will, though I do intend to mostly stick to things I need rather than want. The only thing I’ll get that I just want is those perfume roll-ons I’m so addicted to. We could really use new sheets and towels, and I still need a new desk chair, too.