With just under 8000 words to go on my book, I just might make the 50K-word count after all.

Tom decided to order color cartridges for the laser printer since he found them for just over $100 and not the $300 he thought they would cost. These are also fuller so they should last closer to 5 years instead of the 3 years the not-as-full ones lasted.

Instead of dreams of anything good like money, moving or Barbara I got to dream about the troll and my cousin instead. Not my favorite first cousin, but my distant famous writing cousin Sharyn. I don’t remember what the dream was about, though. I was staying with her in New York, I guess.

As for the troll, well, I don’t know why I was at her house, but I was talking with her mother and I obviously didn’t know who she was. We were sitting in her kitchen sipping coffee when Molly came in with a painted mask on her face and so I didn’t recognize the troll with the messy shoulder-length reddish-brown hair. In the pictures I’ve seen of the troll, she usually appears to have this haggard look which many might interpret as being drunk, retarded or sleepy.

She walked up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. I looked at her mother questioningly and she said, “She just wants a hug.”

So I figured what the hell and I gave her a hug. Then every hour after that for the next 4-5 hours she would enter the room with that strange painted mask on her face wanting a hug.

“Come see my room,” she finally said and so I agreed to see it.

The room was filled with all kinds of games and toys. At one point I was looking in a bin that contained large doll heads and realized that 2 or 3 of them looked exactly like Molly and like they’d been custom-made just for her. That was when I realized who the strange girl with the painted mask standing right behind me really was. I woke up trying to decide whether or not to play dumb, run from the house or kick the crap out of the wacko.

I hope to hear from Barbara again but I realize there’s no real reason to. There’s no way I can fly to her classes, though a part of me wishes I could. I didn’t expect to hear from her other times either, so we’ll see. I should consider myself very lucky that a university teacher has taken what time she’s already taken out of what’s got to be an insanely hectic schedule to chat with me. :) We both seem to have things in common, she seems like a really sweet person compared to Nane, and if she hasn’t quite caught on that I’m attracted to her, I’ll make sure she gets it in the message I’ll be sending today or tomorrow. That’ll be a real test of sorts. :)

Later…

It took 3 Ibuprofens to kill my cramps – WTF? So much for thinking menopause was setting in. These damn periods will never stop. :(

I sure did have fun today, though. The only bad thing is that I’m really worried about Alison. I mean really concerned for her, but she feels confident she’ll get the problem taken care of during the next year. I hope so! Her cancer has spread and I guess they’re going to have to take all of one breast and the 10 remaining percent of the other.

One of our first stops was at the mail place. I waited in the car as he picked up what was there and saw him approach the car with a package. I thought it was from my folks, but then I thought it was an odd-shaped box for them to be sending. So he opened the back of the car and asked what I ordered that he didn’t know about.

“Nothing,” I told him, and then he opened the package.

It was a surprise win containing yet more barbecue utensils. :( We haven’t barbecued since Phoenix! But sometimes you get piddly unwanted shit like that while aiming for the grand prize.

When we found that KFC opened at 11:00 and not 10:00 we decided to kill off the hour at K-Mart where I got a handful of goodies. Scented body sprays in Vanilla Fantasy, Lavender Vanilla, Sugar Apple Fantasy, Kapri Breeze, Obsession and a few variations of musk. Yeah, I know it seems a bit overkill but I can never have too many things that smell good!

All the adult slippers were huge and I didn’t like any of the kiddy slippers, but I did get a pillowcase for my new body pillow. It’s a nice velvety material with a zebra pattern.

I got some new dishtowels which we’ve been needing for a while now and looked at some shoes. They had some cute ones but none in my size that I really liked. Size 5½ is so hard to find anything in! Why couldn’t I have been just a half-inch bigger?

I got a gorgeous “diamond” ring with a pink heart-shaped diamond in the center and a cluster of 3 round clear ones on each side. I’ve got it on my right forefinger so it doesn’t clash with my gold wedding band. It’s a bit big, though, so I should have gotten a size 7 instead of an 8.

I have been wishing they’d make gum with flavors of caramel, chocolate and coffee for some time now. Well, I saw they had mint chocolate chip and decided to try a pack, though I don’t chew gum too often so as not to get carried away with it. It’s good, but there’s way more mint than chocolate.

After we left K-Mart we went to a thrift shop. My first thought was, what crap! But the further I delved into the store the more I found some interesting things, particularly the shelves of mugs. They had a huge variety of beautiful designs and colors. They were having a half-off sale so they were only a quarter apiece. I ended up getting 5 mugs to replace our old, chipped ones. One’s pink on the outside and aqua on the inside. Another is lavender with a large cluster of daffodils. Another is amazingly detailed with yellow roses and green leaves. Another has small clusters of pink and purple flowers. Lastly, there’s the one with pink and purple bunnies.

I also got a wind chime with ceramic balloons and clouds. This and the mugs came to just $3.50! It was a hell of a deal. :)

Our last stop was to grab some KFC to go so we could share it with the rat. I got a 3-piece chicken meal with a side of corn and macaroni all cooked to perfection. For dessert, I got a chocolate parfait too, but haven’t finished it yet. I’m not used to eating so much anymore, but tomorrow it’s back to dieting. :(

I doubt any other rat in the state of California got treated to KFC today, LOL.