Wow, still no Photobucket views, though I’m still getting weird stuff on MD. I think it’s more likely from some random joker than someone I was once friends with.

Since getting up at 9:30, the activity around here so far has been very city-like, though not noisy in the traditional sense of the word. There’s been a work truck of some kind parked in front of the house that’s in front of next door in the mornings doing who knows what. I can’t tell if they’re working on the house or in the common area next to it where a gulley runs through.

Also, next door just left, returned a few minutes later, and then left again.

Still with the mysterious swelling in the feet, but I’m otherwise ok. Just a little tired. Got so much more to do here but I like keeping busy. Now it’s time to eat, work out, shower and clean the kitchen.

Did a little test and tweeted my new house photo album link that I created on Photobucket to see if it would get any views. No views yet. This makes me think Kim and Molly might not know about my Twitter profile. I’ll give it a little more time then mention it on Ask only for starters and see how many views, if any, the album gets. I’m surprised Kim doesn’t know about my Twitter page, though. I can’t believe she doesn’t follow all my sites daily.

Someone on MD has been sending me wacky stuff. The kind of stuff Andy and I would write when we were into writing crazy notes and letters. It doesn’t seem quite right for Yung Toro, Kim or anyone else I can think of, though the things they say suggest they’ve read my diary extensively.

Lotta landscaping sounds today and some car doors, but it’s winding down now. I giggle to myself now when I look at those flower trees I love so much, remembering how I joked with Nane about asking our local nursery for one Schmetterlingsbaum and one Sommerflieger, LOL.

Now that we’re getting more and more settled into our new home and the OT is backing off for Tom, I can get back on with my health stuff. I have an appointment on the 8th to see the dentist. Guess I’ll have to see a doctor about my weight too, though I really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Tom doesn’t think there’s anything major going on with me but wonders if my swollen feet could be heart-related. I think they’re just fat, but what I wonder about more is my joints. They’re not as stiff as they were, but they still seem a bit stiff even for a middle-aged fatty. I thought it was connected to my weight, but it’s not like I’m severely obese. Besides, I’ve seen people bigger than me have more flexibility than I’ve had lately.

Seems I got the location of the back entrance wrong. I thought it was the section that’s visible from one side of the house, but it’s actually around the corner from there. That would explain why there’s no gate there. Guess the back gate is always shut too, day and night.

Went to Big Lots yesterday and found a surprisingly lame selection of desks there as well as at Fry’s. So we ended up at Office Depot where I had to decide between a $220 desk and a $150 desk. I decided on the latter. My choices were espresso, cherry wood and maple, and I went with the maple. I’m not a fan of dark colors, especially black where every spec of dust shows up on it so easily. It’s huge compared to the old one, but there was simply no room for it in the trailer.

Tom couldn’t figure out how to attach the door that goes on one side, but then the answer came to him in his sleep. Even so, it’s fine as a shelf. It’s such a complex design that it took him (plus whatever help he dared ask of me) about 4 hours to assemble it. The only thing I’m not thrilled with is the keyboard tray. I didn’t think to look at this in the store, but it’s not very wide. I don’t have much room at all to put the mouse by the keyboard, so it’s up above it. It’s going to take some getting used to having to reach up for it. Shared pics with Tammy, Andy and Nane.

I also got a cute tape dispenser set inside a high-heeled snakeskin shoe, a little pink ring watch, some fruity body mist, a jewelry holder in the form of a woman’s body wearing a glued-on blue glittery dress (the jewelry holder is where her head would be), and a cute pair of shoes.

The pink and purple slip-on shoes with their rubber soles were just $5 and great for when I don’t want to wear sneakers, sandals, boots or heels. Maybe I’ll wear them to my dentist appointment on the 8th. Yeah, I’m finally getting back to my health issues, then I’ll go for a regular physical for the first time in a million years to make sure I don’t have thyroid problems, diabetes or heart problems. Not sure I’d want to know it if I did, but I know that ignoring anything that could be serious isn’t smart either. I still think I’m healthy, though, and that all lab work would come back fine.

Worked out and cleaned until my feet were sore. Despite the increase in activity but no increase in calorie intake, I haven’t lost weight. I started to lose a few pounds but they came right back. Then last night I saw a fascinating documentary on the Atkin’s Diet. I’ve long since heard of this diet and like the idea of counting carbs and not calories (though one still needs to be sensible where calories are concerned). I just never did the diet because it seemed too complicated, like most diets that deal with numbers and counting. I remembered Teresa, an inmate in jail, who said it was the best diet ever and all that. She said she didn’t it at first, but the main idea is to eat more protein and fewer carbs. Instead of bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and sugar, you focus mostly on meat, eggs, dairy, fruits and veggies. Some fruits and veggies aren’t allowed, though, if they contain too much sugar. I can’t bring myself to starve or purge, so maybe I should focus more on this concept and see what happens.

Had a great chat with Tammy and Mark yesterday, but poor Tammy sounded awful. They expressed a desire to get together and again I wondered if it was simply because it’s been so many years, or could there be something more to it? Like the possibility of Tammy not being around much longer. What’s scary isn’t just how horrible she sounds, but how much she sounds like mom, too. Anyway, I don’t know that Tammy would bring it up if she thought her years were numbered. She may not only find that hard to admit to her own self let alone someone else, but she may feel it would scare me and not want to put that on me. Would it literally scare me, though? Well, yes and no, I suppose. I might not necessarily fear I was next, but I did always wonder if God would kill my one and only safety net for if He decided to beat us over the head with money again. After all, if God wanted to financially torture us again, He’s not going to do so with people around I could run to for help. She’s the only one I know who would send help and, worst-case scenario, send us tickets to get holed up in her place till we could make it on our own again. Everyone else I know couldn’t afford that, wouldn’t give a shit enough about us to take us in, or both.

If I had to guess, I’d say Tammy still has many more years left in her. I don’t think she’ll get old, but I don’t think she’s got just a few years either. I hope not for her sake! And for Mark and the girls.

Better not put some of these concerns for Tammy in public.

When I got up this morning I heard hammering next door and thought, oh no. My worst fear has become a reality. The guy’s gone and turned that damn garage into a workshop. But I caught a quick glimpse of him hammering something in back. Fortunately, it didn’t last long either. Things are usually pretty quiet around here. The only annoyances (they’re mild) are car doors and landscaping sounds.

I took pics of the new desk (Andy and I got new desks the same day) but forgot to shoot the new drapes. Maybe later. And maybe I’ll update my Photobucket albums, too.

What false advertising it is for them to say these drapes block light and sound! They may muffle sound a bit, but to say they block light is total bullshit. If it weren’t for the blackout shade behind them I’d be pissed.

Realized I could intensify the pressure of the shower massager quite a bit once I adjusted a lever that was on its side. I use that for rinsing my hair. Otherwise, I like it gentle.

Been getting stuff done around here little by little. Today we got the toilet paper and paper towel holders up that we got for our Maricopa house, the outside lockbox, a hook for the potholders, and our robe hooks.

Although it costs $400 and couldn’t get behind furniture, I’m tempted to get one of those robotic vacuum cleaners. It just seems like a neat idea.

Wonder how the leaker house is coming along? I haven’t walked by it lately. I realized I was wrong in saying they were asking 12K for it before it was bought and remodeled. They were actually asking 15K.

“Nobody can stop me,” I got on Ask. Let me guess – that was Molly sneaking online, right? And the one asking if I knew who Mike O’Malley was came from Kim, I’m sure. I was followed by a Mike O’Malley on Facebook, and not being a celebrity worshiper, I thought he was just any old guy. Curiously, I checked him out and saw he was a celebrity. Well, what celeb would suddenly follow me? Only the celebrity-obsessed person running the fan site who’s been stalking me for 13 months would do so, so I blocked them (Kim). There’s nothing to follow right now anyway since I keep most things between friends only. She’s probably the same one to ask if I’d ever get a third rat. That’s not only something she would ask, but something she has asked before, and Kim is notorious for asking the same damn questions over and over.

Again I’m contemplating dumping my known Ask account altogether. Or maybe only allowing for anonymous questions during non-troll hours. Their trolling hours usually seem to run from around noon my time into the evening. I just don’t get why any human being in the world would care to bother with someone who dumped them and wants nothing at all to do with them. Is it just fun for them? Funny in some way? Or are we really friends in their sick minds?

Had some weird dreams last night. In one dream Tom and I were living in Europe, though I don’t know which country. In another, I was renting a room in a large building by myself which I’d come home to find ransacked, after a night out with Jessie. I wondered if anyone I’d had issues with online found my whereabouts and broke in.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she said, then turned and fled.

Strangely enough, police tape was strung about most of the room. When I went to call them on my cell phone, loud music would blare out of it, so a call wasn’t possible.

Then I turned to find a strange man grinning at me in the doorway. Knowing he was responsible, I flew at the guy and began punching the shit out of him. I held the collar of his shirt in one hand so he couldn’t back away from the blows. Just when this seemed like it wasn’t going to do me any good and like he might turn the attack on him, I kicked him in the groin and sent him to the ground. I then kicked him in the head and knocked him unconscious.

I rejoined Twitter in preparation for returning to entering sweeps and contests. This way I can do the tweet sweeps. I tweaked my hotkeys for flash forms and all that’s left is setting up Robo and then grabbing a 3-month subscription at OLS. I normally would grab a year, but I don’t know that I can win like I used to, so that’s why I figured I’d start with a few months.

Still dealing with lower back pain that doesn’t want to let up. The loss of mobility in my back/hips (from what?) is causing me to really lose flexibility so I’m working my way back into my old exercise routine and hoping this will help get me going like my old self again. I know that carrying the extra weight doesn’t help either and while it’s been proven long ago that there is no “weaker” sex and that strength/fitness depends on the individual rather than the gender, it’s no joke that we women gain fat easier than men and have a harder time getting rid of it. All the exercise in the world won’t get the weight off if I don’t cut calories. Problem is I gotta damn near starve myself these days to get it off and I’m just not up for that. I’m getting too old to deal with the constant hunger and fatigue. But I gotta do something cuz the problem isn’t going to go away on its own.

We moved my computer off the counter and onto my old desk, which will soon end up with Good Will since I’ll probably get a new one tomorrow, and it helps to be back in my office chair instead of the counter stools, too.

Not sure what to do today. I don’t want to be too inactive, but I don’t want to overdo it either till I figure out what’s up with my back. I should try to resurrect my half-finished stories and bring back “Bunny Nose,” but with it being the weekend and all I just may laze around watching videos and movies.

Times have really changed for me. In the past, I’d be anxious to meet my neighbors and settle my curiosity. I’d want to get a feel for them and how much trouble they may be, particularly when it came to noise. Nowadays, though, I don’t give a shit who my neighbors are. As long as they don’t force me to know their every move, and they haven’t, I’ll be polite and say hello if I run into them (this is bound to happen sooner or later), but I otherwise don’t care to know they exist. That’s why we’re here.

Woke up feeling tired and stiffer than ever, but managed to drag my ass out of bed and onto the treadmill for a little while. I guess I’ve just been doing too much and need to slow down a bit. My sprained wrist still bothers me, too. All I’m doing today is laundry and that’s nothing compared to how it used to be. What used to be an all-day event with multiple loads in our little old portable washer and finding spots to hang things in is now just two big loads in our big washer and dryer. I don’t have to do a damn thing but gather it up, throw it in, put new sheets on, then put the clothes away when they come out of the dryer.

While no one had an ounce of sympathy for the white woman and child hate crime victims, a few of you had plenty of sympathy for Trayvon. Figured you would. Just to clarify things, though, I wasn’t saying it was ok that he was shot. He wasn’t armed, so he shouldn’t have been shot. What I was saying was that Zimmerman didn’t know this. He seemed to truly believe he was in imminent danger, and when one is suddenly in fear of their lives, they don’t necessarily take the time to wonder if that supposed gun could really be Skittles or not. It was a terrible tragedy, don’t get me wrong, but it also wasn’t like the Rodney King case or the guy shot in the back while on the ground in Oakland. It was a poor judgment call on Zimmerman’s part borne out of fear and suspicion that had absolutely NOTHING to do with race. But as always, people choose to make it into a racial issue.

I went to call Paula, now that Tom got me a dial tone again, but her number’s no longer in service. Great. Just great. I don’t know her new address and now I don’t know what number to call. I hope she’s got my number written down somewhere cuz she doesn’t have our new address either. Why does everyone move at the same time?

What I’m guessing may’ve been Kim, was a Facebook follower in the name of Mike O’Malley. I didn’t even know this was a celebrity till I saw the account’s username and then looked him up. Well, Alison got Kim to admit to her fan sites, even though she still does her little impersonations here and there be it cuz she’s addicted to role-playing, crazy with MPD, or both. I blocked the site but didn’t disallow followers. That way she can be dumb enough to follow me again and get blocked again, too.

Going to the pool in about 5 minutes. I figure it takes me 5 minutes to get there and they don’t unlock the gates till 6am anyway.

Got a lot of goodies in the mail yesterday. The best thing was a $50 GC from Tammy and Mark as a housewarming present. We plan to go to Big Lots on Sunday to look at computer desks, so we’ll probably use it there. Who knows, maybe they’ll even have a living room set we like.

My colored acrylic gems in fuchsia, purple and crystal arrived to decorate my glass lamps and vase, and so did my raspberry curtains.

Tom picked up a faucet to replace the master bath’s faucet but who knows when he’ll have time to make the switch? These next two weeks at work are going to be crazy for him but the money is just as crazy, so at least something good is coming from it.

Ok, time to gather up my towel and keys and head out. I’ll do another entry later.

Later…

Nane and I have spent both today and yesterday chatting on and off throughout the day. It’s that time of the month when things are slow at work for her. She says reading my bio has gotten her to see me in a different light (for the better, I hope), and that I’m very lucky to have Tom. Indeed I am!

Ah, there’s nothing like a 10-minute walk and a 10-minute swim at the crack of dawn, before most of the world is even awake. Not a soul was around except for a woman who appeared to be in her 60s whom I passed both on the way to and from the pool. This was by the leaker house. The Schmetterlings Haus is still my favorite along the route.

The Jes pest must’ve come around, though, cuz I could smell a little more chlorine.

I might’ve been wrong in saying the window on this side of next door wasn’t openable. When I went to mail my Italian dad’s letter, I thought it looked openable, but I didn’t want to stop and stare at their window either. I still think that’s a bathroom. I hope so anyway. Less likely their mutt will be barking out of it when people start opening windows during the daytime. I have yet to see or hear the mutt, but I’m sure it, as well as many others, have been walked by when I haven’t noticed. They seem to come and go 2-3 times a day, as figured, but if they’ve had any company they’ve been parking in the street and going around to their front door.

It took me 3 shower caddies to get it right, but the one we got that hangs over the shower door in the master bath definitely makes it a bit roomier in there. One of the other ones can go in the second bath, then we’ll have an extra.

Started to worry the place was haunted for a minute there yesterday, something I would absolutely hate. Haven’t heard many “friendly” ghost stories. I figure that if a place is haunted, something bad happened there or someone died there and so whatever it is that’s lurking about isn’t likely to be friendly. Instead, it’s likely to see you as an intruder on their turf.

Upon walking up to the front door after mailing my letter, the front light came on. I had no idea it had a motion sensor in it. Then I could’ve sworn I heard someone in the house when I was in the bathroom. It was probably just the house settling or them out and about next door.

Sometimes I just don’t feel like my old self, particularly in the joints. It’s not so much pain as it is stiffness and lack of mobility, especially in the hips and back. At first I thought I just wasn’t active enough. Then I thought it was the extra weight. But I am active enough and I’m not severely overweight, so now I’m guessing it’s just age.

I was going to call Paula, but can’t get any sound on my computer phone. I had a dial tone yesterday, so I don’t know what went wrong between now and then. Better have Tom look at it.

Later…

I always try to judge people by their behavior and not their color. After all, that’s what defines our personalities and all that, not our race, nationality, height, weight or things like that. But some people really disgust me with the way they treat others.

I was disgusted by the reaction to the George Zimmerman verdict by both blacks and whites alike. I’m tired of people seeing racism where it’s not and not seeing it where it actually is. I’m not at all surprised that people are labeling Zimmerman and his jury racist. Had the colors been swapped and Zimmerman had gotten off as a black man shooting a white man, nobody would give a shit. But as soon as a black person is killed or imprisoned everyone’s quick to scream “racism!” unless it’s an all-black or all-white case. From what I’ve heard about the case George Zimmerman shot Trayvon with just cause.

I was equally disgusted by the case of a white mother and child shot and killed in a mostly black neighborhood whose perps were never charged with the hate crime that they should’ve been charged with. But as with the Zimmerman case, I’m not at all shocked. This reverse discrimination bullshit has been going on since the 90s. I’m far from the only victim of it and so were this poor mother and child.

Yet sadly, some groups continue on with more rights than whites while others continue on with fewer rights than everyone of any color/race.

Poor Tom had to go to work early today. It’s the end of their fiscal year so the next two weeks are going to be super busy. At least we’re not still trying to move with all this OT going on! I just hope the bastard above doesn’t see fit to reward him for all his hard work with a big fat lay-off notice. But all jobs eventually come to an end. That’s part of why we have our savings built up. Fortunately, the economy is better than it was a couple of years ago and he should be able to get something new pretty fast. In the meantime, he’d also get more unemployment than the last time. Still hope it doesn’t come to that, though.

He said a lot of people at work are jealous of where we live (he’s one of the highest-paid employees there), even if many would consider those who live here to be snobs, LOL. I still can’t believe we’re here. A tiny old trailer in the woods may be better than most apartment complexes, jails, hospitals and other places, but it’s not something we’ll ever miss either.

For now, though, we won’t get much accomplished around here or dentist appointments made for the next two weeks.

Tom got chargeable Bluetooth speakers so I can play the stereo anywhere in the house at a reasonable volume. In a retirement community, I can’t blast my music throughout the whole house.

We also got these things called Super Sliders that you stick under the legs of furniture to make it easier to pull them out when cleaning or whatever. They’re pretty neat.

Went to the pool at the crack of dawn and again I expected it to be cold, but it wasn’t. I could jump right in. I took pics of the pool and the park area en route to it and then back.

Heard some mowers across the street and some car doors, but that was about it. Next door left together at some point and yeah, they do look older than us and are definitely retired. I knew we couldn’t get lucky enough to get next to those still working, but they’ve been quiet.

Since we don’t have the printer set up yet I think I’ll jot a quick letter down by hand to my Italian dad and let him know what’s up.

The main water pipe broke yesterday so the water was off for 6 hours. Really hope water issues aren’t the norm here. We had enough of them with the Jes pest and in Maricopa. That’s usually a rural thing. But now we’re in the city. Fortunately, I only had to pee 3 times (I was asleep 2 hours before the water came back on). I used as little toilet paper as I could and closed the cover to the pretty new toilet seat.

The dark pink blackout drapes we got for the bedroom that blocks light, reduces noise and cuts cooling/heating costs turned out to be too short and are going to be returned. They were kids’ drapes too, since the adult colors were boring. The last thing I wanted was black, navy or maroon drapes in there, so I jumped online and found every color in the rainbow. Raspberry drapes are now on the way and are 84” long. :)

Had we waited another month to get in here we may not have been able to. The prices have suddenly skyrocketed! Forget selling the “leaker” house for 20 or 30 grand. They’re definitely going to ask for 40 or 50 grand. Also, I was mistaken in saying they were asking 12K for it. They were actually asking 15K when we first looked at it.

Someone may’ve bought, remodeled and flipped this place too, then sold it for twice as much, though this place is in great condition compared to how the leaker house used to be. It’s newer, too.

I was also mistaken in saying we plan to do the outside of our place in aluminum siding. I meant to say vinyl siding. That way it’ll never rust and we’ll never need to paint. I’d like peach, mint green or sky blue.

LOL, Tammy thinks the colorful flowers in front are tiger lilies and Nane thinks they’re Schmetterlingsbaum (butterfly trees).

She’s curious to see pics of the park and pool, so I think I’ll take some later on and hopefully no one will mind. Some of the houses and the landscaping around them are drop-dead gorgeous!

A part of me wishes we could rip out all the plants around our place and just throw down gravel and privacy blinds on the sides, so we no longer had to worry about them, but that would take a lot of time and money better spent on other things.

Yesterday was very quiet. The night before last I heard a car door close nearby just after midnight. Must’ve been parked in the back cuz I can barely hear when next door comes and goes. Their SUV is very quiet and they open and close doors inside their garage, which muffles the sound of it.

Been here two weeks now and the Internet hasn’t cut out once! In Auburn, the damn modem would reset itself anywhere from a few to a few dozen times a day. I do NOT miss that! But some things are still disappointingly slow since sometimes it’s the server that’s slow and not you.

It’s taken some getting used to having the refrigerator on top and the freezer on the bottom, but it’s quite a nice, new, high-tech fridge. It even beeps if you leave the door open. Love how the oven is self-cleaning, too.

The new locks are now on both doors and I even found the decorative fan/light chains and decorative faceplates I had in our Maricopa house. That tugged a wave of emotion through me. Just never thought we’d ever own a place we could use them in again, I guess.

Went for our first swim in 6 years yesterday! After spending over $400 at Walmart on groceries and stuff for the house, we returned home, did a few things around the house, and then drove to the pool. I paid strict attention as to how to walk there on my own when I want to (or ride my bike once I get a new one). It shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to get there.

On the way, Tom pointed out the “leaker” house. The one that was humungous but in shit shape. For some reason, I thought that place was on the other side of the park, but it’s right behind us. It’s now wearing a new roof, paint and more. They really remodeled it big time. I still think the people who came to look at it after we saw it bought it with plans to renovate and flip it. It will probably sell in the 20Ks or higher instead of the 12K they were asking for when we checked it out. I’m glad we didn’t get that one or the triple wide for 10K. Those were just way too big and not as new/nice.

We got to the pool at around 11:00 and found it deserted and the gate locked. Just as we were wondering why we were never given a pool key, Joy and her husband (who I learned live here) came to the pool, accompanied by another woman and a girl about 10 years of age. Larry, her husband, had locked the pool down so he could treat the water, though the pool is usually open from 6am - 10pm.

The girl got in the water first and was going “Brrrr….” In a way that made me think it was cold, but it was actually quite nice. Hey, it was over 100° the day before and it’s solar-heated too, so it should be nice. The plan was to just go for a quick dip just to finally be able to say we did, then get back to work, but I never wanted to get out of the water! It was just so beautiful. I was surprised to find its deep end is 8’ deep since diving isn’t allowed and there’s no diving board or anything like that.

With reluctance, I soon managed to pull myself out of the pool where I then showered off the chlorine and went home. Tom didn’t want to get burned anyway. He got enough of a burn at the company picnic.

On the way back I was delighted to see next door sitting on the other side of their house. They waved to us, though I don’t know that they knew who we were. They can’t see our car from their place. I’m just so glad they won’t be hanging out on this side. I HATED it when the neighboring duplex people would camp right outside our window and laugh and shout and gab for hours at a time. They were even closer to the wall of our duplex than the freeloaders were to the wall of our Phoenix house. They might as well have just come right into our bedroom and done their chatting there cuz they were pretty damn close enough as it was.

Later…

Went for a walk to the clubhouse and it was so beautiful. Little nippy at first, to my surprise, but still gorgeous. The “6:00 man” that always passes by on his morning walk is 20 minutes late today, so I just saw. Anyway, it took me about 10 minutes to and fro, but was so nice and peaceful. It was great not having to worry about being attacked by dogs.

A maintenance guy was doing a puzzle and the exercise room wasn’t nearly as impressive as I thought. I’m so glad we didn’t get an elliptical machine! I do not like the feel of it at all. Maybe I could get used to it but maybe not. The bikes were ok with the comfy seats they have, and the Bowflex was ok. But the treadmill can do what the bike can do and my resistance bands can do what the Bowflex can do. Maybe not as well but pretty damn close. So why not work out in the comfort of home where I can then jump right in the shower? There goes the 6:00 man again. Guess he’s circling the block.

As I was leaving the clubhouse some guy left his house to walk his mutt which went off on me when it saw me. Not sure who the guy was more annoyed with; his dog or with me for daring to leave the clubhouse right when I did, LOL.

Saw next door was watering the grass they have on the other side of their place. Not by hand but with sprinklers. They have a better view on that side than on either side of our place, but I’m not sure I’d want to swap spaces with them. If we were where they are the nearest carport would be further away, but the people in here would probably spend time on the patio which is between the two places. They have a screen door in back of their garage, too.

Not sure if I want to go swimming today or not. As usual, I have a lot to do. I’m also glad I didn’t go to a salon when I first considered it. Now that I’ll be swimming regularly I’m definitely sick of long hair. It sheds all over and is a bitch to care for. I think that right at the start of every pool season I’ll cut it to my shoulders, but I do want to let the pros do it and not us, haha. They don’t have to dye it or anything, but first chance I get, I’m getting it cut.

Later…

Found Kim on Facebook, sent her a friend request, and she added me. I knew her when I lived in South Deerfield, MA. She was a nurse, very bright, and I feel bad for ignoring her before we left Phoenix and then later on as well. I just had so much going on with me at the time, not that it’s any good excuse. She was always good to me.

We haven’t talked yet. FB makes it very hard to contact people these days. If you’re not friends (and sometimes even if you are), your messages, wall posts and comments to them often go unseen.

While my day started off well and I got a lot done, I’m not very happy right now at all. We haven’t even been here for two weeks and the water’s been off for over two hours. No wonder Joy warned us about this when we met with her. I was afraid that “occasional” need to turn the water to the park off really meant “frequently.” Why bring it up if it was just occasional? I have a feeling this is going to happen once or twice a month and that would really suck, too. :( What if I was in the shower?

I’m getting a little burned out now, so to quickly go over yesterday’s shopping trip – I got these really cool shiny pink and silver wall décor things you stick on the walls. It was a 6-piece set and it’s in the bathroom now. Don’t know how long they’ll stay put, but we’ll see. They’re supposed to be removable and reusable.

Got a lovely doormat for inside the back door with purple flowers, a pail for my new office with pink and purple flowers, purple glitter nail art polish, two pink bathmats for the master bath, one of those dusters that’ll let me dust the fan that’s 10’ up, and new toilet seats for both baths. The master has a tan one with a palm tree design on its cover and the other one is slate blue.

I also thought it was time to replace our glasses. I prefer plastic ones in case we drop one. The floral design on our 7-year-old cups was disappearing, so I got 4 new ones in different colors – pink, red, blue and clear. They’re kinda tall, too. I didn’t get the green ones they had cuz it was an ugly shade of green, like olive.

The silver faucet I wanted for the master bath was out of stock. The nickel was dull and the brushed bronze made me want to cry just looking at it.

Andy lost 9 pounds. Yay for him! My own weight is “resetting” itself as usual, despite keeping active and eating less. Oh well. I guess if my body fights to hang onto weight like this, then it was meant to be there.

Getting spam again on Ask #1 so I temporarily disabled anonymous comments. It might be a little more than temporary this time because I just don’t have time for that anymore. I can barely keep my eyes open to type this that’s how busy I’ve been.

More to tell but am just too beat. Back tomorrow!

Today’s going to be busy, busy, busy, but fun, fun, fun. Even if it means having to go to the pool when it’s crowded and full of screaming kids who are visiting. IDK, maybe the parents (or grandparents) will keep them at least somewhat civilized.

First, though, Tom and I are going to hit Walmart real early for both groceries and other things.

Things have been peaceful here save for scattered car doors thumping. The only real frustration lately is the fact that a flying rock cracked Tom’s windshield for the second time in less than a year. :(

I was added by a Lea P on Facebook (didn’t realize I had my thing set to allow friend invites from everyone). Then I saw her account was mostly about God and heterosexual pride and I’m like, why is this chick even friending me? When I asked both in a message and on her wall how she found me, I was ignored, so I deleted her. Whoever it was (Kim? Molly? Molly-related?) was still around, though, because they went from 17 friends to 34 friends over the course of the day. They don’t seem to be a spam account of any kind so I don’t know what’s up with that.

I forgot to take a picture of the little clump of prickly pear cactus that’s at the end of the driveway. Tammy says she thinks the pink flowers by next door are tiger lilies, and yes, she still does have to have a lung transplant for sure. :( Aw, I was hoping she would improve enough not to need one. But if I remember correctly, they only need to do one lung. I don’t want to ask her about it because it’s not something she likes to think about.

Slept on Mrs. S’s flannel sheets last night. They stay put better but are a bit warm for this time of year. As much as I bitched and complained about all the shit they left behind, I really do appreciate some of it. Besides, someday we’re going to die (just maybe not here) and someone’s going to have to pick up after us and clean out our shit. That’ll be a helluva lot more than they left.

I’m so glad we got outbid on the “barking” house! I really love this place even if it’s a bit big for us. I also love knowing that no mutt could ever bark out an open window next door on our side cuz there are no “real” windows there. Haven’t heard any of that anywhere yet despite all the houses that surround us, but this isn’t exactly the time of year people leave windows open.

Yesterday I was pretty stupid. I flushed a few baby tomatoes down the toilet that were going bad, not wanting to put them in the trash and stink the place up. I totally forgot we now have a disposal to use for stuff like that!

Although the drawers in this place aren’t on rollers being an ’83, they open and close just fine unlike in the trailer. The trailer drawers were old, painted and too big. But this house’s grand total of 30 drawers and 45 cabinets function just fine.

Gonna do some laundry later on. The washer and dryer work great, but the washer is so huge that I can’t reach all the way to the bottom of it being so short, LOL. It felt so good to hold warm, dryer-dried clothes in my hands after so damn long!

I have plans to do some rearranging and reorganizing of stuff that’s in closets and drawers. There’s a closet with sliding doors in the hall and also one with a small door.

So far we’ve changed locks, picked up a lockbox, and been given the transmitter for the gates for when we’re coming in at night. It’s after 2am now so they’re all locked up tight. The only open area will let you out, but not in unless you want a set of flat tires. I wonder why they didn’t just put a gate there that opens when it senses cars wanting to go out like they did in the back? The tire spikes are harmless going out, but come in that way and they’ll spike you.

The toilets are so big they take forever to fill and I’m kind of cramped in the shower. The second bath’s shower is actually bigger than the master’s cuz the master has the giant tub. Another thing I don’t like about the shower is that they only have one sunken shelf. I used to rest my foot on the side of the tub when shaving and now I have to just bend straight over. Tom’s fine in his shower cuz he only has two bottles, one being soap and the other being shampoo. But I have that plus a conditioner, bath gloves and a razor. So we got me one of those shower caddies on a pole that goes from floor to ceiling. It’s a good thing I’m small otherwise I’d be really cramped in there.

The new shower massagers we got are adequate but not very impressive. They just don’t have enough oomph, but that also makes the hot water last longer.

Got a rainbow lamp on a stand (each plastic shade is a different color – pink, purple, orange, green and blue) and it helps even out the light in the massive master bedroom that I think is even bigger than the one we had in Maricopa. Maricopa’s was square, this one’s rectangle.

I saw a video on YouTube showing a really great way to fold T-shirts and socks and be able to see every single one of them that’s in a drawer. It really saves on space, too.

My feet have gotten somewhat used to being on them but when they get sore I find that flexing my toes back and then pointing them as far as I can helps to ease the pain.

In other news, Molly’s back online and up to the same old shit, asking on Ask if I missed her, wanting to be friends, etc. shakes head sadly Geez, some people never change, do they? I knew no group home could change her. She is who she is, fucked up or not. All the group home can do is keep her in line. If there’s any more unwanted contact from her, I’ll contact them. She’s probably not allowed to be online but has found a way to sneak on at night. Aly said she deletes things at just such an hour, so that’s why she’s probably still not allowed.

A few days ago someone in San Angelo, TX combed through some of my blog pages one at a time over the course of about 20 minutes. I thought it was Kathy at first cuz it’s near Brownwood, but Kathy would never be that interested in my blog. It was probably Molly or someone she had check it out. Maybe they copied stuff to email her or printed it out for her.

Nane’s really been into the pics I’ve been posting of the house and even the rats too, LOL.

I didn’t do as much journaling yesterday and still haven’t caught up on my reading, but I’m determined to make myself take it easier today, even though there are still some things piled in the living room. I hate looking at piles of clutter but we’re about 95% moved in now. We’ve basically gone from dealing with what’s critical to fine-tuning. Over the years we’ll slowly get this place how we want it to be. We could do it all right now but don’t want to drain the savings.

We have plenty of things planned for the weekend, like spraying outdoors. The webs and spiders around here are a bit much, especially at this time of year. They’re all over the bushes and railings.

I took some pictures around the outside of the house but didn’t get to the pink flowers by next door's place yet on the left side of the house due to all the creepy webs. Tom still hasn’t had time to spray and I hate the way the damn things stick to me. There are azaleas in front and roses in back (American Beauty?) but I don’t know what the lovely pink flowers on the left are. Love how I can see them from the kitchen window.

Someone was doing loud yard work yesterday morning at the end of the side street but I could barely hear it in here.

Tammy left a message saying she was happy for us, we deserve this, she’s sent a housewarming present, and she and Mark are looking forward to chatting. Me too, and from a phone that doesn’t break up.

Ok, here’s a little more about what they left. They left a hideous old, ugly lamp in the bedroom, but since it’s got a short in it, It’s not Goodwillable. We’ll just dump it.

They also left a semi-hideous wall clock but that was because its hands would get hung up on each other. There were a couple of other wall hangings. I kept the one of cherries. Once the place is fully set up I’ll take more pics, then again after the walls are done, and again once the new carpet is laid down. If you’re not a Facebook friend, you won’t see most of these pics.

They must’ve really been into Halloween because they had Halloween napkins (plus some Christmas ones) and a heavy Jack-o-lantern that will go to Goodwill. The napkins we’ll keep, though, since they hadn’t been taken out of their packages and look decent enough.

They also left an assortment of kitchen and bath towels, a few of which I’ve kept. Two of the kitchen towels are button towels that you secure around cabinet handles. Love those things! There were some mugs, glasses, pots, pans, silverware and Tupperware, some of which I kept.

She had a couple of small rotating trays under the sink which is handy for keeping cleaning supplies visible and easy to reach, but the best thing she left was a crockpot. Always wanted one of those even though I’m not big on cooking.

I’ll describe appliances and the ins and outs of the house in my next entry.

Later…

The swelling in my feet is going down and so is my weight. Last night I dreamed I got into a bathtub but forgot to undress first cuz I was so tired. When I looked down at myself and noticed I still had my clothes on, I saw that I was thin. A future dream premonition? Well, 1 dream and 4 pounds aren’t enough to tell me anything yet.

Gene and Audrey were already 75 years old when they moved in here, but since they made it to 90, they were able to stay a while. The house’s 30th birthday was July 8th.

They left books as well as manuals for all the appliances. Decided not to bother Goodwilling the books for now and to just throw them on the bottom shelf of the bookcase. They’re big heavy hardcovers and I didn’t feel like boxing them all up. I’ve got enough to do. I also thought that shelf would look better with something on it than nothing at all, and that’s something I don’t care if the rats come in contact with. Some of the books are old and date back to 1910, but I doubt I could get much money for them. Maybe in 500 years, but not now. It seems nothing has much value these days but gold.

They left some little things too, I forgot to say, like pens, clips, magnets, and even some body butter that smells nice.

I love running up and down the long hall, which happened to be a great spot for my plug-in air freshener. I love the whole house! There are a few imperfections, of course, as with any house. The only thing I might change is I might make the living room and master bath/bed a little smaller, and I’d prefer to enter the second bath from the hallway. I never liked having to go through other rooms to get to bathrooms unless it was off a master bedroom. You have to either go through the second bedroom or the laundry room to get to the second bath.

Going room by room, the living room is like a massive canyon. This is the room I’m now working on, setting up the collectibles and other knickknacks. I still have to do the laundry room, too. I think I’m going to stick with drapes rather than go back to blinds. I don’t want to have to remove and dump those super long drapery rods, and I like how the inner drapes still let light in. What I don’t like is how little privacy I feel I have when the inner drapes are open, but the sheer inner ones sure let in a lot of sunlight. We just may get new drapes in a different color on motorized tracks.

I love the kitchen overall but don’t like how the light switches are scattered. I wish they were all by the entryway as opposed to by the stove and at the sides of the sink. The oven’s taking some getting used to but works well. The dishwasher’s soap door doesn’t spring open and why they neglected to tell us this, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the “pops” we’ve been using and they block the door from springing open. They shouldn’t, though. That’s what they were made for. I’ll test it with some liquid soap later. Either way, the dishwasher is on our list of things to replace.

The refrigerator was the only thing that was clean when we got here because it is new. It’s huge and has all glass shelves, see-through drawers, and even humidity control.

We first thought the AC came out of the ceiling and the heat out of the floor, but we think the floor vents are actually the return. We can feel the air being sucked through it when the AC is running, and there are no slats to adjust the airflow either. Love the digital thermostat. The fact that the AC cycles on and off during the hottest part of the day, unlike the cooler at the trailer that would run steadily for hours, shows how well insulated and how much thicker these walls are.

The drapes in the master bathroom will definitely be replaced with blackout drapes in a solid color so comforters won’t clash with them.

The back wall of the master bathroom is white. I don’t know why that one wall doesn’t have the design on it the rest of the walls in there have but other than smoothing out any walls they simply painted to white-out the brown paneling, I’m going to leave the wall designs as they are in the kitchen and the baths. I’ll be sure to take pics of the original carpet, flooring and walls at some point so others can see how much they’ll change.

I love that the tub and showers have all plastic surrounds and no tile and grout to have to deal with that’s a bitch to clean and a magnet for mildew.

Got a few runaway doors, but nothing like we had in the trailer even though the trailer only had two inner doors. One of the bedrooms stays open only part way and the laundry room door swings shut.

Later…

Since I have no use for my tea candles now that I don’t burn scented oil anymore, which gives off some smoke, I scattered a bunch of them throughout the place and cut the lights. They look cool and give off just enough light to walk around in here, but I need the regular light for cooking and things like that.

Still quiet here save for a 1-hour “blow job” from the guy next door who went around his place with a blower just before 9:00. What could possibly take an hour to blow over there? It was green waste day, so that’s probably why he blew his place at that time. Regardless, I figured landscaping sounds would be regular enough here. You can’t keep a neighborhood looking this good just by wishing, thinking or praying about it.

The overall quietness of the place proves Andy and I were right and Tom was wrong, LOL. I had asked Tom if he thought there really was a neighbor noise curse on us for so damn long (as I suspected) or if there were just that many “extremes” out there. He said he thought there were that many extremes. Oh, I know there are a lot of loud, rude, obnoxious and inconsiderate people out there, so don’t get me wrong. But the peacefulness around here goes to show that people really can be civilized if they only wanted to and if they only cared enough to. I still think we got one extreme after another that was no coincidence. What are the odds of ending up next to a mother and daughter residing in the neighboring duplex right outside your bedroom wall that goes back and forth and back and forth at all hours of the day and night between the two sides? What are the odds of hearing your landlord nearly every single day that’s hundreds of feet away? What are the odds of getting the welfare bums AND the large Mormon family with a million screaming kids AND the college animals? How about the nut with the barking dog that promised to be quiet, then blasted her TV and left her dog outside alone all day? A few bad neighbors are to be expected in life, but one after another?

What I love about next door is that they have an attached garage. This really muffles any car/house doors. Also, the only window of theirs on this side is a round frosted window that’s probably a bathroom. So this gives us a little bit more privacy. If they’ve been having company, they’ve been parking in the street and going to their front door on the other side of their house.

Tom’s got to work today, but hopefully we’ll make it to the pool tomorrow after we do our shopping for groceries and more things for the house. We plan to replace the bathroom faucets and pick up a few more things. We replaced the master bath’s broken flap and all that, but I don’t like the push-button handle. You have to really push it hard and that can be tough with long nails, so we’re going to swap it with the other toilet so we can have a traditional push-down handle in there since I use that toilet most.

We have loved every fun, hectic, exhausting minute of our first week in our new home! Also, if I don’t finally catch up on everything, I never will! Besides, even though my feet are getting used to all the activity, I could use a break. All the critical stuff is done anyway. Now that I’ve got things in the vicinity of where they’re going to live, it’s just a matter of fine-tuning and arranging them just the way I want them. I still LMAO over the appraiser or whomever it was that was arguing over the size of this place and trying to say this massive cavern of a house is only 1300 square feet. It’s much bigger than the house we had in Phoenix which would mean that house had to have been 1000 square feet or less if this were really 1300 square feet and there’s just no way in hell that could be. Phoenix was about 1200 square feet. It was one of those houses where you weren’t cramped but you didn’t have a lot of extra space either. We could cut a third of space off each room but the second bath and bedroom and still have plenty of space in here. Oh, the floor space I’ll have for bopping around to exercise vids once we get the big TV mounted.

Not sure I’m going to stuff most of the Barbie collection in the hutch because the doors’ wooden frames block some of them from view. You kind of have to have them centered in the doors. Wish I could put my bride doll in there (Summer Dream), but anything over 14” high won’t fit. So small dolls and knickknacks are all that can go in there. I still have the big bookshelf to fill up once I get their books out of the picture. Yes, there will be more to dust here than in the other place because there will be more stuff, but it will be easier cuz I won’t have to climb over so many things in order to dust one object, and there won’t be piles of clutter.

Sometimes I wish those I know, no matter how understanding and imaginative they may be, could really feel the stress and fear we went through for just 5 minutes so that they REALLY get a sense of how hellish it truly was and can REALLY see how relieved we are that it’s over and how we could never take this place for granted. And I’m NOT gonna let God send anyone or any circumstances to take it away from us either!

But I couldn’t do that to those I care about; that’s how horrifying an ordeal it was, not expecting a miracle to save you and not being able to see any way out no matter how much you rack your brains for a solution and really want to be able to continue to live on. Then they would have the memories to live with forever, no matter where they went or what they did. Trust me, no one wants this kind of PTSD! Life changes, but memories don’t. I’m just glad we got to live to see this day happen. No one wants to die. No one. They just want the misery to end. But you know how people are. They wrongly believe that if you kill yourself, you’re a coward, and if you try to kill yourself, you’re just looking for attention.

I’m still sleeping well here and it’s nice to know I no longer have to worry about that. That was one of my biggest concerns upon moving. It’s just so wonderful knowing that if next door does move, the welfare bums, college kids, and the Brady Bunch can’t move in! EVER! With our shit luck, though, they’ll make 55+ parks illegal, calling it discrimination. I hope not cuz I don’t ever want to have to move again! Or at least not for many, many years. Moving is fun, but it’s also a pain.

It was nice not having to wait a week to go online like when we moved from the duplex to the house we rented in Oregon. I wasn’t thrilled to find yet another new round of changes and glitches on Facebook, but it was there.

The amount of stuff they left behind, especially in the kitchen, is like OMG! I’ve already got like 5 boxes and 5 trash bags filled with shit for Goodwill. I said to myself, “Since they left nearly everything a kitchen could possibly have, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a spice rack in here somewhere.” So I went and checked and sure enough, there was. It was stashed in back of a cabinet. It was old, though. I was originally going to get a spice rack for all my nail polish, but they’re fine in the master bathroom’s medicine cabinet. Everything’s so far away from everything in that room. The toilet’s far from the sink which is far from the tub which is far from the shower…

They left behind some silver, some of which has engravings. There are spoons, cups, candlesticks and more. I haven’t yet explored all of that, the books they left or some of the cabinets. Going through the place has been like going on a scavenger hunt. We just never know what we’re going to find. Anyway, the silver isn’t worth much, according to our research, so we’ll probably just take it to a place that melts silver.

Gonna try to limit entries to about 1000 words so they’re not endlessly long!

For one who usually does two journal entries a day, I guess I really am slacking off. Been so busy but loving it! I was so exhausted from all that’s been going on and that I’ve been doing that I slept for 10 hours, only waking up once to pee. It only took me two days to get used to sleeping here. I no longer wake up so often either, especially during the daytime. Not having to go to sleep wondering if the Jes pest would be down to bug me or not certainly helps when I’m on nights.

Speaking of that pest who lives in the pre-internet days and always outdoors, when Tom went up to get the last few things and do any car maintenance on Saturday that can’t be done here till we get the garage up, he told him we were great renters and all that. LOL, well, we won’t miss his dumpy old trailer and the serious lack of space! We could easily cut about a third of space off from this place and still have plenty of room. There’s no way in hell this thing is 1300 square feet like they were arguing over. It’s noticeably bigger than our Phoenix house, which was about 1200 square feet without the garage. This place is definitely no smaller than 1500 square feet.

Jesse said it’d be a couple of months before he rented the place cuz he’s going to install new flooring and do the painting and roofing he’s been talking about doing for years. He also said Maryann was anxiously asking about the shed and he said he’d make her clean the trailer for it, LOL. She’s got her work cut out for her. We didn’t leave much behind other than the futon and a few odds and ends, but the kitchen and bathroom are dirty and she needs to vacuum unless Jesse re-carpets. He should, too!

Meanwhile, it took me 9 whole hours to clear the crap out of the kitchen that they left behind. Yeah, I was kinda pissed, though I understand it might’ve been too hard for them to do because they were sad. Gene and Audrey didn’t leave because they wanted to; they left because they got too old to live here. Still, their kids should have cleaned up after them or maybe a friend.

Most of the stuff is going to Goodwill, but they did leave a few useful items. I’ll get into them another time. Right now I have to get back to work. Today I’m working our stuff into the kitchen and washing anything that needs washing first. So nice to have a dishwasher again after 9 years!

Again Maliheh was on my visitor list, but not in my blog. At least not the one I can track. Is she taunting me? Reading back for a good laugh? For something to “get” me with? Or could there be some freak chance she may miss me and be reminiscing? Whatever it is, I refuse to let God use anyone as pawns to make our lives miserable here as He did with the same batch of blacks and Hispanics in both Phoenix and Maricopa. This is the third place Tom and I have owned since being together and it will be the first to be unmarred by that kind of drama. Online trolls and threats from trolls’ evil moms, pigs or people pretending to be pigs is one thing, but it is not going to spill out of the virtual world and into the real one.

I’m starting to break records for missing days where I don’t post journal entries. So here’s one saying that I’m overworked and sometimes annoyed with all I have to do, mostly thanks to the previous owners, but loving every second of it. There’s so much more to do than when we moved to Maricopa. Since we were the first ones to live there were no cabinets, drawers and closets to clear out, nor did we need to change any locks.

Wish I’d taken better notes along the way cuz I know I’m not going to remember every little detail I’d love to document and share, but I’ll do my best. I figure that I won’t forget the things that are most important. Well, of the ones I can publicly share, anyway.

Shared some pics on a couple of sites and plan to take more in stages as the house progresses, including shots of around the park itself. The park you’d never know you were in! It looks like any old classy, beautiful neighborhood with on-site homes. I was surprised to see someone with a gay flag. Not something you usually expect with older people. I just hope history doesn’t repeat itself! If it does, these quiet neighbors will turn noisy soon enough or they’ll be replaced with noisy people. At least they can’t be “noisy” in the way they can be in the mainstream. That’s why we came here.

Tom saw the guy next door take off on his bike this morning when he was going out to the store. He said he was clearly older than him. People usually only move from here if they die or need to go into assisted living, so if he can ride a bike, he shouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. Haven’t seen his wife yet.

Slept much better the last two nights (which were almost days given where my schedule’s at now) and I don’t know if it’s because it was the weekend and there was less traffic, I changed sound machines, or I’ve gotten used to it. Tom thinks I’m mostly getting used to it. I hope so cuz that’s the only thing I don’t like is all the traffic. It’s better than people living back there, though. The traffic’s gotten pretty predictable. It’s mostly heavy in the morning but tapers off by noon – the retirees take off to run errands or visit friends and those still working head to work.

We got pleated blackout shades for the bedroom in Sandstone and they really do a great job of blocking light. Would be better with blackout drapes added as well, which I plan to eventually get. Her drapes aren’t ugly, but they’d clash with my rose comforter and things like that. Pink carpet would clash with things too, so I realize, and therefore I’ll probably go with a crème or a beige colored carpet when it comes time to redo that. The walls will be painted and smoothed before the carpet so we don’t have to stress about dripping paint on brand-new carpet. Some of the dark paneling actually looks good. They didn’t paint the beams in the living room’s cathedral ceilings and the contrast is actually nice. I’m not going to paint or resurface the kitchen cabinets and counters; just redo the floor. The floor’s not ugly, but it’s dull and worn. The bathrooms and laundry room floors are in better condition, but still a bit dull and worn. I want to personalize as much as I can to my styles and colors. Luckily for me, Tom doesn’t give a shit what I choose, LOL. That’s more of a woman’s thing anyway.

The boring dark brown carpet isn’t frayed but the padding beneath it is shot.

I’m ok with the 3 different wallpaper designs in the kitchen and bathrooms so I’ll probably leave them as they are.

This woman was weird, though. Not only was she apparently very big on cooking (she’s got almost everything you could find in a kitchen), but there were pieces of dried onions in a wicker basket in a cabinet. I wonder if she put them there to control odors cuz I noticed a strange smell there myself. I don’t care for the smell of onions either, though, so I dumped the green onion bulbs I put in a jar of water. I read that if you cut the bulbs off and soak them in water, you’ll have a whole new batch in 12 days. They really were starting to sprout, but like I said, I didn’t appreciate the smell.

There’s so, so much more to write, but I gotta get back to work tackling the kitchen. As much as all this work is killing my feet, it’s keeping me from eating!

Looks like Maliheh accessed one of my old messages to her. I wonder why. To get a good laugh?

Even though there’s still TONS of work to do around here, I thought I’d do some writing now before I REALLY get backed up and start forgetting things. It wasn’t always convenient for me to take notes along the way.

Right now the dining area is a sea of boxes and we STILL have PLENTY of room! We can actually both pass by each other in the hallway, whereas the short “hallway” in the trailer could barely fit two people my size in it.

They picked up trash and recyclables today and it was perfect timing since I just filled both with some of the crap they left behind. Then again, they had the recycle bin nearly full. I meant it when I said I was both grateful and annoyed with the people that lived here. We did tell them they could leave whatever they wanted, yes, but we didn’t think they’d leave sooo much stuff, most of which is worthless. Their daughter left a note saying:

Dear New Owners,

Welcome! Hoping you will enjoy living in this lovely park as much as our parents have the last 15 years! We truly did leave a lot of “stuff” for you – hope at least some is useful. Hey, if you ever find a platinum wedding ring and engagement ring, my mom lost hers somewhere in this house some years ago… we certainly would appreciate you giving me a call. Maybe down in a sink trap? Wish we had more time to make this place spotless for you. Please let Brenda know if you have questions and I’ll try to get answers for you from my parents! Two big keys are to doors, small key is mailbox, towels/rags in dryer are for you.

Best! Sherida

Would love to find Audrey’s ring for her, but if it went down the drain it’s long gone by now.

We appreciate the stools so we could have a place to sit right away, as well as the long L-shaped counter. It’s where we initially put our computers. But I don’t at all appreciate how filthy they left the place. The bathrooms weren’t too bad, but the kitchen is caked with dirt, the carpet’s a mess, and there’s dust all over the walls. I took one of their long dust mops they left here and got all the dust and webs from the walls. The ceilings, however, are surprisingly clean and bright.

Gonna be dumping, recycling and Goodwilling a lot of their stuff over the coming weeks. They left a couch, a double bed, 3 adequate but worn barstools, a rocking chair, another chair that’s an old, uncomfortable piece of shit and tons of books. Most of the books aren’t novels but educational and self-help kind of stuff. The couch helps fill up some of the space and is better than nothing till we get our own, but is very uncomfortable. The wooly fabric is itchy and it’s too low and soft.

The double bed also isn’t very comfortable, but we wanted one for the second bedroom.

We’ll probably keep the stools cuz they’re not that bad. I’d like to find cloth covers for them since I don’t really care for vinyl or leather, but I don’t know if I could find any that would fit their shape.

They practically left the kitchen completely stocked. This included flour, sugar, spices and an open bottle of maple syrup put in a cabinet of all places. So I had to dump that, plus some dumpy things the Goodwill wouldn’t take and that weren’t necessarily recyclable like old wicker baskets. There’s tons of stuff, though – pots, pans, silverware, utensils, cups, mugs, glasses, plates, bowls… almost everything you’d find in any kitchen. Only problem is most of it’s so old. We’ve got our own stuff anyway. They left a lot of towels and linens, too. It got to the point that every time I’d open a closet, drawer or cabinet I hadn’t yet explored, I’d dread the mess I would find. The built-in desk in the laundry room, which will basically be a “community office” of sorts for the wireless laser printer, scanner and things like that, had tons of office supplies. Again, though, it was mostly useless, though I kept a few decent rolls of tape.

They also left a lot of cleaning stuff and hangers.

Rather than make a few super long entries about our new and wonderful house (just wish I could sleep better), I’ll do a bunch of smaller ones.

Moving day was one of the most emotional days of my life. The night before, as I lay my head down one last time in the dumpy little trailer we called “home” for half a decade, I was both excited and a bit nervous. The tears really started coming once we had most of our stuff cleared out as I stood in the tiny 10x10 bedroom that almost became our death chamber. A flood of mixed emotions came over me. I shuddered with the horrible memories that were both sad and scary, thought of how much I learned while we lived there, the wonderful people I got to know, and how angry I was that God put us through (or at least let us go through) so much shit while we lived there that was so damn stressful and even downright scary at times. It doesn’t matter whether or not it was God Himself or a devil He allowed to torment us. God’s just as guilty whether He’s the main player or the enabler.

Above all, I was excited as hell. I basically laughed and cried tears of joy all day. Sometimes I stop, I look around me, and I think Omigod, we’re here. We’re really here! For a while, I didn’t think we’d get out of that damn trailer alive and then I didn’t think we’d get out at all. So many times I stared out those windows, crying, thinking we’d never get out and that that was a forced forever home.

When the loan people kept screwing up and causing delays (along with the God above that never wanted us to have such posh digs) I started to lose interest in this house and thought we’d probably be better off selling it if we did get it, figuring they’d screw us over some more, but they didn’t. They promptly refunded the money they owed us, so that was nice. A part of me wishes we’d done the walls and re-carpeted before moving, but we waited long enough to get in here and didn’t want to add any more delays. I definitely don’t want to move for a long time to come, if ever again. Maybe Florida or some other country won’t be worth it. No one’s pestered us like I thought they might, so that’s nice. It’s also been really hot, so hopefully the peace won’t come to an end with the cooler weather, not that we’ll have much of that till late November, early December. Hot or not, we definitely couldn’t be surrounded by so many houses in the mainstream and have so much peace and quiet. Haven’t heard a single bark yet, though I’ve seen a few little mutts being walked by. I can hear kids playing beyond the park’s perimeters in the carport, but you can’t hear them at all indoors. The only thing I hear are vehicles passing by. There hasn’t been a ton of car door slamming like I thought there might be either from next door, across Radiance Circle, or across Cayes Cove, the side street. Astronaut, the street in back, gets way more traffic than in front.

I just hope this house never holds the kind of terror that trailer held; thinking we would die no matter what we did or didn’t do. Hell, we survived the evil above! The question is, is God going to take this place from us too, after taking two others from us? I wonder about that and worry, but try not to think about it. As long as we’re smart about our money and Tom isn’t laid off and then stuck with either unemployment or minimum wage jobs indefinitely, we should be able to keep the savings built up nicely.

We drove by the storage place we used when we first came to Cali. Had someone tapped me on the shoulder the day I took a nap under the big old oak tree nearby when we were homeless and told me this was where I’d live in 6 years, I’d never have believed it. OMG, I’m getting so emotional again, LOL.

I woke up at 10:00 on moving day. Tom had just returned from bombing the house and picking up the moving truck. The moving truck that could have so easily been a coroner’s van. It took us till around 3:00 to load the thing up. Just before 5:00 we dropped the truck back off in Auburn, picked up the car, went to KFC, grabbed some more stuff from the trailer, and returned for our first night in our new home.

Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep well. We hadn’t yet picked up the blackout shades and I woke up to bright morning sunlight in my eyes. We got them the next day and they’re great cuz they’re so easy to open and close. Also, in the mornings, the street in back gets more traffic than in front and some of the louder vehicles are hard to mask with the sound machine. I’ll need to create white noise with an off-dialed station on the stereo, as that seems to do a better job with louder sounds. Never saw or heard that motorcycle diagonally from us so maybe they were just visiting. It sucks that I’m such a light sleeper! I don’t understand why I can’t just tune things out like some others who can sleep through anything.

The rats took the move well. They were anxious to hop out of their cage and explore their new territory. When I was lying on the living room floor playing with them, I looked up and the cathedral ceiling seemed miles away. I should be able to upload some pics on Facebook over the weekend.

Standing against the back wall of the second bedroom and looking straight down the hall to the front wall of the living room makes it seem sooo far away. We’ve definitely got way more space than we’ll ever need. If the giant hutch wasn’t built-in we could sell it since we’ll never have much to put in its 5 long glass-encased shelves, 5 drawers and 5 cabinets. I suppose some of the dolls and knickknacks could go on the shelves, though.

I remembered some things wrong, so I found when I came here for the second time. I thought the bedroom doors were across from each other and that the laundry room door was further down the hall. I also thought the wall between the sunken tub and toilet went all the way to the ceiling but nope. It calls for a vase of flowers or something, but right now my female supplies are on it, LOL. I like the basket of purple flowers she left on a corner of the tub.

Although I usually prefer showers, I hadn’t taken a bath in years due to the trailer’s tub not having a slanted back to lean against. So last night’s jasmine-scented bubble bath in a tub so big it would make a great kiddy pool was a fun and refreshing change.