“Where do you get $1400?” Tom asked. “Is that a figure you just randomly drew from the top of your head?”

“No, I drew it from the fact that the cheapest real house in this damn state that isn’t in Freeloaderville seems to start at $1400.”

But then he showed me some gorgeous senior community rentals less than 10 minutes from where he works with 2-3 bedrooms and 2 baths ranging between $800 - $1200. Why does it seem too good to be true? Because God’s gonna see to it that he’s laid off yet again and that we’re forever trapped here for Jesse’s benefit? I sure as hell hope not!

Aw, how sweet of Andy to wish Tom and me a happy Thanksgiving and say how glad he is to have me back in his life. :) We just kicked back at home, though, as we aren’t fond of turkey anyway.

Andy cracked me up earlier by saying he “wishes he had my problem” of liking them older. It’s true, though. Even when I was younger I always liked older women. There’s just something about that mature look, I guess, though I did think my favorite lady in the U.S. was my age when we first met.

He said I cracked him up with the way I said in my journal in 1988, “Dr. D died. Fucking bastard! I need my meds.” Yeah, his timing wasn’t exactly great for one who was addicted to happy pills like I was.

After dreams of Barbara’s long and lovely body, warm chocolate eyes, and sexy do (there’s just something appealing about that dark, shiny mane. It seems to be the perfect hairstyle for her not that I’ve ever seen it any other way, and the kind you just want to run your fingers through) it was off to dream of Nane. She threatened me or something like that and I told her, “Zwie Worte: Ficken ab.” That translates to, “Two words: Fuck off.” And no, it wasn’t a mistake when I capped the German word for “words.” They cap all their nouns.

I have to laugh at the thought of Nane. She threw me away like yesterday’s trash, but Barbara recycled me. :) Yet despite the fact that most of us have had our share of web crushes, we’re not in any way an official “item.”

What’s kind of funny as well as neat is that Barbara has never said a word to me in English. We have communicated in nothing but German. That’s part of what she does, though, in her immersion classes. They believe the best way to learn is to simply do it and so no English is allowed. Nane and I, however, usually communicated in English but this makes sense as I was nearly 100% illiterate in German when we first met. About 15 months ago all I knew was yes, no, thank you, I love you, and good day. So I’ve gone from 8 words to somewhere between 2-3 thousand if I had to guess. When I first wrote to Barb I wrote in both English and German in case the German was too messed up to understand. She chose to write back in German thinking I’d understand, so that’s when I knew I wasn’t doing too bad, LOL, even though I still have to look some things up. But each time she and I swap messages, the more I learn. :)

“What do you want to do with your birthday money?” Tom asked me. “It’s your money to spend however you want. The rent, car insurance, internet, and our next round of propane are all paid for throughout the rest of the year, so it’s all yours to do what you want with.”

It took me forever to decide what I wanted to do with it. It would’ve been easy back when I was a doll collector, but I’m simply not a high-maintenance woman. I’d love to live in a nice new house but I don’t need “stuff” like I used to. As long as I have clothes to wear, food to eat, a computer, a treadmill, and a stereo, what else do I really need? Ok, maybe some feminine supplies at times. :)

I first thought of going someplace nice for dinner, but as Tom said, it should be spent on something fun. Well, eating isn’t “fun,” it just tastes good if it’s something you really like. Besides, with food, you eat it, you shit it, and then it’s gone. So I’m gonna take it to K-Mart and just get some random goodies. :) I could use some new slippers even if that’s not exactly “fun” either, but the rat sure would have fun if my old slippers became his new toy. :)

Off to do some laundry and the grocery shopping before I get in the day’s word count. Less than a week to go! I still don’t know if I have much of a chance of winning this thing as I’m running out of ideas. I know how I want to end the story; it’s keeping things going until I get there that’s the real challenge.