November 1999 in 1990s

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1999
I forgot to say that the day they were finishing up the carpet, we spied on the back, and it looked like people may now be in the house furthest from us (originally, I thought it might be the other way around). These houses and their immediate surroundings look like total dumps. There was a beat-up car outside with two adults sitting out front of the furthest house. I couldn’t get a make on their color/race being at a distance, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were Mexicans. They may’ve been workers too, and not residents, but it’s still too soon for these renters to be problem enough to know better (till I torch their places). Still, I accept losing the bet, which I had misunderstood the terms of. The bet means I can’t get any dolls till May, not that I can’t get anything at all till June like I thought was the case.

Anyway, it was pretty funny how I insisted I could hear the neighbor’s music the day we pulled in while the carpet layers were there when it turned out it was coming from our own house! Funny, huh? Tom sure thought so. Yeah, the carpet people had a portable radio going.

Here’s something even funnier: I spend over a decade wishing I could keep a schedule, and now I can’t wait to get off of one! It’ll probably be another couple of weeks before I can.

Tom just went a little nuts in his sleep talking again and saying “I’ll check it out for you. I’m a skeptic. I can’t believe what you say.”

Later…

I really hope I don’t need to buy a third journal, but I doubt it. We should definitely be in by the time this one’s done, but boy let me tell ya - if we ain’t, we’re gonna be in court suing these people!

He talked with the well driller today, who says the well will be done this week. Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it. And what about APS and Gravity finishing his job?

He called the mail carrier and was told there are no mail services on our street, so we can either apply for a delivery extension, put our mailbox on Bitter Root, which is too far to walk to, or just keep our PO Box. We’ll probably just do a PO Box, and remember, now that I’m there, the area will build up quickly enough so our application for a delivery extension will be accepted. As it is now, though, there are not enough houses between us and the two rentals, but once there’s us, four rentals, plus houses across the street and to our right, an extension will be no problem.

I definitely want to check out the land to our right and in front. I want to find out who owns it and what the story with it is. It’s not for sale now that I know of, but give it 6-12 months and I’ll bet it will be.

At the trailer Sunday morning, we were locked in. I couldn’t get the damn door open. Tom loosened some screws and fixed the knob, though. While we were still trapped, he jokingly said, “It’s kind of scary being trapped in here with me, huh?”

I joked back saying, “Yeah, I’m afraid you might rape me.”

The night before this I nearly blinded myself in one eye with a clip that broke and flew into my eye. Miraculously, I had no bruising on the skin, but it did bruise a corner of my eyeball.

Since now’s the time to mail something and hope that Tom doesn’t find out about it, by having the front desk mail it, I’m gonna send the H’s a wacky letter. He still may find out about it if they suspect us, then contact Hilda to contact us about it, but I doubt it. If they do, they do, though. I’d still rather not hand an envelope addressed to them to Tom to mail, cuz he’ll only try to talk me out of it. Meanwhile, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, but if he does find out, then I’ll listen to him lecture me for an hour about it and I’ll deal with him being paranoid over it till 2005.

Later…

Last night I called the front desk about the room next door, but not to complain, since they weren’t that noisy and since it wouldn’t have done me any good if they were. I did it to see if I could find out when they’d be leaving. It sounded like the same guy who I complained to about that old crone on the 1st floor (we’re now on the end of the 2nd floor directly above our usual room) and I was surprised he gave me any info. He let me know they were leaving today, which eased my nerves. I didn’t think they’d leave after just one night. Someone’s door woke me up at 7:15, but I’m almost sure it wasn’t theirs, cuz fortunately, their door’s not right smack next to ours. It was probably the door across the hall or the outside stairway door. Unless they arrived late, no one was above us last night, cuz as is my habit lately, I call the surrounding rooms to see what’s empty and what’s not. So far, as far as I know, no one’s above or next door to us now (who cares about below), but someone’s across from us.

The maid called today wanting to know if we wanted our room cleaned. That was a stupid question. Why would we have our DO NOT DISTURB sign out if we did?

Later…

I’ve become sort of friendly with one of the girls at the front desk. She’s the one who helped me get my popcorn that got stuck in the vending machine. She smiled when she saw me earlier making popcorn and asked how long I was staying. I told her about our situation. I stopped by the front desk to chat some more with her just now when I went to get coffee when a man came in saying he needed four rooms. Four rooms! That’s a lot of fucking kids! Next door’s still empty but I’m sure some of them will be unloaded in there any sec.

Last night, for reasons I can only guess, a suite door was left with its door guard in place so anyone could walk right in just like I did. Their suites are identical to the one we were in at the La Quinta, only it was laid out differently. We’re in a regular room with two doubles, a dresser, and a table. This had a king with a table, dresser, couch, and micro/fridge. Since it was on this floor, I used its microwave. I also helped myself to some toiletries. I could’ve made free long-distance calls. However, there’s no one I care to call that’s long-distance.

Tom may be coming down with a cold. I hope not. It could just be exhaustion, though.

My trip to Melanie’s was a waste of time and gas, but at least I don’t have to go back for 8 weeks! The doctor didn’t even tighten the retainers. All he did was look at them and ask if they fit OK.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1999
Back at the Fairfield till Wednesday. God’s up to one of his favorite obsessions concerning me - sticking kids next to me. I was in between CDs when I heard a kid scream and felt the vibration of its footsteps. I peeked out into the hall (this was just after he left for work) and saw a guy with a ton of luggage heading next door. I never actually saw any kids, so I couldn’t say how many are over there. He smiled at me and we went into our rooms. Thank God these walls are thicker than the apartment walls at the Vista, Crystal Creek, and the dive in Snottsdale! Although I’ve heard a few bumps and bangs, they haven’t been as noisy as I thought they’d be. The question is - will I be able to get up in the morning when I say so, or will I have to when they say so? No kid is gonna sleep till 8:30, and you know the parents won’t give a shit if they run around like crazy.

I’d like to say that they’ll be settling down for bed soon and gone for good in the morning, but I know better. One look at the amount of luggage they had told me they’d be here for more than one night. They’re not in the middle of their trip. Here is their final destination. If they were coming/going from some other state, they wouldn’t have that much luggage cuz you wouldn’t need so much for one night. They’ve come to visit someone in the area for at least a few days which is why they had so much crap. Besides, I know what God would have in store for me.

This is also not a very good sign of the “end times,” so to speak, signaling our final hotel stay. I still don’t see how the well could be done, along with APS’s job, and Gravity’s job of connecting the well/septic by Wednesday so we can be in by the 1st. Tom promises to hire new people, though, if they don’t stick to the contract.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1999
If Tom’s right, and if he’s not getting his hopes up for nothing, this will be the last night we sleep in the trailer. If gunshots don’t wake me up sooner than I’d like, then he will, but it’s OK.

The fucking idiots sent the well permit to our old address so that’s part of the reason for the delay. According to the way Tom’s figured things out between the well driller and APS, we should be in the house Wednesday.

The skirting is now on and it really makes the house look better.

Also, the carpet’s down. It’s darker than I thought; sort of like faded denim, but it’s better than brown. I like it.

I found yet more problems, and I’m telling you - there’s no fucking excuse for this! Those fucking goddamn lazy, half-assed Mexicans!

They installed the things for the outdoor lights crookedly, and the utility door handle does not fit right. There’s a large gap in the door.

We went over to the house after the girl and guy who did the carpet left, and we discussed clean-up and preparation jobs, as well as did a little work over there. When we can, I’m gonna sweep the floors and vacuum and he’s gonna wipe down the walls and counters of all their dust.

Today we set up the fridge, oven, and dishwasher, and peeled stickers off of things in the bathrooms. I also took down the curtains I plan to replace.

Anyway, I hope Tom’s not jumping the gun, cuz he’s got a room reserved for us for three nights at the Fairfield. Being there on a Friday night/Saturday morning was just as bad as I figured it’d be. I should’ve known too, that just because it started off quiet, it wouldn’t stay that way. Not once it got well past check-in time. They ended up pretty packed and the early morning door-slamming was pretty wild. I’m amazed they let me sleep till 8:30 like I did. Shortly afterward, we screwed.

There was nothing to say he wouldn’t or couldn’t cum, based on his actions, but then like usual, he had an excuse. A cramp in his back was the excuse of choice this time. Fine, but why make excuses, Tom? Just be yourself.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1999
We decided to check into the Fairfield so we could take showers. It’ll also give me a break from being shaken awake. First he shook me awake, then I woke up just because, and then a fly landed on me and buzzed me awake just before 8:00. I couldn’t have slept much later anyway since the carpet people started their work.

We got here at 11:00 and we were supposed to be on the 2nd floor, the one with the lazy Mexican who doesn’t change sheets (this place has three floors), but the room wasn’t ready, so now we’re back on the 1st. This time, though, instead of being at the end of the hall by the exit door, we’re up in the middle by the lobby. The little laundry room is just across the hall. The laundry room where they wash sheets is across the hall, too. I thought it might be very noisy here. Especially with it being a Friday night, but it hasn’t been too bangy so far. Since it’s the Thanksgiving weekend and not a regular weekend, they may not be as booked up.

The room was really musty when we first came in, but Tom opened the window and we aired it out. I didn’t even know these windows opened.

He went to see his mom since he hasn’t seen her in a couple of weeks.

There was no alarm clock in here. Tom can get me up by 8:30 tomorrow if nothing beats him to it, but I thought it’d be nice to tell time, so I got one at the front desk. Oddly enough, there were no outlets behind the nightstand, so I plugged it in by this table I’m writing on.

I also had to hunt down the maid for a DO NOT DISTURB sign again, but I still like this place the best.

Later…

Tom’s still not back yet. I napped for about an hour, after a shower and doing a little load of laundry.

That musty smell returned, and I noticed the floor by the sink was damp, so I think there’s a leak somewhere. Yeah, I’m a magnet for leaks. We both are. I’m also good at sending out those infertility vibes too, cuz as it turns out, none of these mice were ever pregnant. How amazing too, seeing that they were in a cage with males.

Tom won our bet about it being quiet behind us, although he won by default. No one’s been over there as far as I can tell. Still, I won’t get anything till June. The bet was that I go without any more dolls and stuff like that for six months. I’ll keep my end of the bet, but I wish he’d quit lying and learn to keep his end of things when it came to sex! As you know, I no longer want a kid, but when the guy comes out and says he’s gonna cum regularly, this really burns me up. Not just cuz he’s lied about this before a zillion times, but cuz we don’t even screw regularly to begin with. How can he cum regularly when we don’t screw regularly? Again, part-time, cumless sex is fine 90% of the time, but why bullshit me about it? He is how he is, and like I said before, any guy supposedly unafraid to go to a doctor about it but doesn’t wants to be the way he is.

Later…

Tom got in shortly after I last wrote. With him were a birthday card and a check from Mom. It was a very pretty card, too. Bright and colorful.

The people next door are getting on my nerves and believe it or not, these aren’t kids either. They’re just as rude and immature, though. Totally childish, and fucking males! The filthy pigs always have to go about things in such a forceful, macho way. Maybe I shouldn’t talk, for I’m just as aggressive, but I guess that except for my husband (or else I’d be alone forever or having little flings with women), I’ll always be a die-hard sexist.

I was reading and Tom was napping when a cock, accompanied by his woman, knocked so fucking hard and loud on next door’s door. Poor Tom nearly fell out of bed and I myself nearly jumped through the ceiling. I thought for sure someone was knocking on our door, but it was next door. If he’d done it again I’d have really let him have it. Meanwhile, it appears to be an older couple staying in the room. I guess they recently checked in. I saw the old lady go across to the washer, and she’d gone back and forth slamming the door several times when I decided to take the matter up with the front desk. Unless he just said he talked to them, which very well could be the case, it’s had its usual effect - nothing. However, I don’t chew out or beat up old people in the way that I would with a younger person. Because it’s still early and because we don’t live here and because she’s old, I’ll let her annoy me by rudely slamming her door. If she isn’t finished with the laundry and the door-slamming by 10:00, then I’ll go directly to her, old or not. I could kick myself for going to the front desk, though. Why do I even bother? Why do I waste my time? Again, you got a problem with someone, you want results, you gotta go to them. Also, I still can’t figure out for the life of me why people can’t handle such simple, reasonable complaints without getting so damn hot and bothered. It’s just a door-slamming complaint. I’m not saying their family has to die nor am I requesting their execution. Everyone’s so damn sensitive. So you close your door a little quieter next time you go in and out - big fucking deal. What’s wrong with a little common courtesy?

Instead of complaining, I should’ve yanked all her clothes out of the washer when she went back into her room, but that probably would’ve led to more commotion from over there.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1999
Signing in on a very boring Thanksgiving. There’s just nothing to do. Nothing to do, no place to go.

Tom got up a little before 11:00 last night and stayed in the car till morning so I could sleep without him shaking the trailer. Remember, we’ve got a total of four nights here. I slept in till 10:30. I know it may fuck up my schedule, but I really needed a day in my life to get up on my own. It’s been over four months now of waking up sooner than I planned to get up, or to the alarm. I can’t wait to take a break from early wake-up calls and alarms! Last night’s reason for waking up was that I was absolutely freezing! It sure does get colder out here, if not by much. Trying to heat a little flimsy trailer’s hard. It heats up quickly and well, but two minutes after the heat stops, it’s fucking freezing in here again!

I expected to hear a lot of gunfire this morning, but I didn’t. That’s the only other thing I don’t like for while we’re still in the trailer (we shouldn’t hear it in the house); the goddamn weekend gunshots. They hunt quails and shit like that in the mornings and late afternoons.

I’m not sure if anyone’s behind us or not. I heard a dog, which may’ve been a Doberman, barking from that direction, for a few minutes, but I was pretty sure the Doberman belonged to one of the workers. Unless it’s one of the workers moving in there, or the barks were coming from Dan’s or somewhere else.

The only thing I’ve heard so far, and it’s so soft that I can’t hear it inside the trailer with the windows open, so I sure as hell couldn’t hear it in the house. The house toward the front of us, actually, in front of next door, is playing a radio. Like I said, it’s so soft I can’t even make out what kind of music it is. It’s an old, baseless radio. All I hear is the faint beat of the drums and I can tell when the DJ is talking, too. Although this surprises me, since people aren’t supposed to want to draw attention to themselves out here, I’m not worried. It is a holiday, after all, and who knows? Maybe they’re renters.

I wish it would rain for a change. It hasn’t rained in months. I want to see what it’s like with water running down our washes. That oughta be so cool having a little river run by our house when it rains.

The house’s 6” thick walls and thermo-treated windows really insulate well. It finds a temperature average to maintain. It doesn’t get as warm as it is in the daytime or as cold as it is at night. It’s 55º in there lately. Our highs lately are 70º and our lows are 40º.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1999
We stopped at the grocery store in Sun Lakes before coming to the land, which was pretty crowded being the day before Thanksgiving. If there’s anything I hate about old people, it’s that they drive too slow and rudely block isles in stores when they stop to gab with one another.

During the daylight, it was as quiet as usual, but with the onset of night, the dogs are beginning to stir up.

Tom and I made a bet. Since we know at least one of those trailers in back is now occupied, the holiday changes when the noise starts. If it weren’t for tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I’d say we were a week or two away from their antics/noise, but I guarantee it’ll be noisy over there tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll hear from next door and maybe Dan too, but in back, I bet Tom nothing for me for six months on their barking, screaming and music. Nothing for me, meaning no dolls or anything like that.

Nothing anyone around here can do can compare to how that Mexican household in Phoenix will be and I thank God I am not there to have to hear it. Man is it gonna be a circus over there! I hope the H’s are planning on trying to have a nice, quiet relaxing Thanksgiving cuz they ain’t getting it. I know everyone will go to the freeloaders’ and that they won’t go to someone else’s, and I know there’ll be music from the house and car stereos. Thank you, God, that I don’t have to be forced to be a part of it and listen to it for 12 hours.

The factory still hasn’t called us about outside steps, the globe, cleaning, or a final walk-through, and APS hasn’t been out. What else is new, huh? But the heat pump and carpet are finally being installed. The guy “says” he was putting it in today, but I don’t think he and his partner can do it today. I think they’ll have to come back Friday along with the carpet layers. They took our unwanted furnace out, by the way, too. As for the carpet, the padding’s down, but the carpet won’t be laid till Friday.

Actually, come to think of it, the dogs have been quieter lately. Maybe the colder weather has to do with it.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1999
I’m doing a mini-load of laundry now.

About four days ago, the weather here turned rather wintry. It’s only making it up to the mid-60s, and even in the afternoon it’s nippy. Especially when it’s windy.

Tom called Hilda today and the idiot still doesn’t know where our well permit is. Tom reminded her that our first payment is due on the first, and he said her response to that was, “Then we have a week to get it done.”

Yeah, right! I’ll believe it when I see it. She also says Gravity’s gonna come out and connect the well to the septic once we ever get the damn thing, but this is even harder to believe.

In other areas of the house set up - Brian’s supposed to take care of the skirting, and someone’s supposed to lay the carpet this week.

Our storage bin’s coming out next Monday and the furniture will be delivered on the 30th.

Tom got a plug to fill in the drop-out in the electrical box and he called APS to tell them it’s ready for a meter, as well as an inspection.

We still have to get the washer, dryer, trash compactor, computer desk (for my office), entertainment center, and the project and animal tables. We discussed the possibility of building our own entertainment center since we like being creative and making things.

The kitchen sink has a spot where you can add either a hose spray or an instant hot water spigot. I think I’ll take the hot water. We also have to get a water softener, but we may not need a filter. That’ll depend on how it tastes.

As with most hotels and other businesses, they have fake plants around the lobby, which is usually deserted. I could easily swipe a couple of little ones, and I thought about it, but they’re not that great. Just green leaves. No colorful flowers.

Besides going to a drive-through and to Circle K, we made two stops.

We went to the trailer and house first, spying on the back houses first. What dumpy trailers these are. They’re double-wide, but according to George, only 40’ long.

There’s definitely still no one living in the furthest one yet, but there was a Doberman chained by it. It was there when the workers that are usually there were there, so maybe it’s one of theirs. What is it with people taking their dogs to work, anyway? Amazingly, though, not once did I hear it bark. Dogs do tend to be quieter out there during the daytime, though.

I took care of the animals while he took care of the plug, and even brought Scuttles to run around in the house. He didn’t explore that much, just made a few corner duties. I wish rats could be trained like cats to use little boxes. It’d be so cool to have them run around loose, but they’d chew everything up, of course.

At Walgreens, we got my meds and some toys. They replaced the Flovent with my old stuff - Vanceril. Well good, cuz the Flovent’s not very good. Got my Albuterol as usual too, and that’s it. I only have two things I take.

He got a yo-yo, and just like he said, he’s super good at it.

I got a pocket Simon game where you match color sequences. Also, a Barbie I’ve wanted for my collection for a while with a pink, satiny, glittery dress with a jagged hem. She has a pull-string with a pink plastic star on the end that you pull so she spins at the waist and makes bubbles with wands you clip to her wrists. I didn’t get it for this purpose, though. I just liked the dress. Besides, my fan can make bubbles a lot better than she can.

Later…

Gave Andy another hotel call. I’m not calling him too often cuz I don’t want to drive the poor guy crazy and possibly even into spending money he needs on getting his number changed. I doubt if he’d go to those extremes, though. Andy can certainly handle prank calls better than anyone I know. You’re talking about a phone addict here who loves to do the same thing.

I picked up and he was quiet for the first minute. Then, after a sigh of frustration, he did what I thought he’d have done by now - chewed disgustingly in my ear. I had the fan on, so I couldn’t tell if he was alone or not. All he said was “Don’t hang up. I know you want to hear me eat. This chocolate pudding is so good. I have chocolate swirl, too. Everyone loves chocolate. Everyone loves Raymond, too.” Then he hung up. No, I don’t know who Raymond is or if he even knows a Raymond. Bruce, though, might be the gay guy from Circle K. I’m not sure.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999
Saturday, when I was in the house, I saw a US West truck, plus some other worker’s truck in back. One was driving up as I approached the window, and I watched someone get out of the truck and shut the door and I never heard the door shut. It would have to be slammed hard while it was dead quiet to be heard in the house, but unfortunately, music doesn’t have to be all that loud to be heard just fine in the house.

Later that day, we noticed a small U-Haul back there, and from what we saw, someone had to have stayed there overnight Saturday night, but they were quiet. This is the house closest to us, I’m talking about. The one I’m pretty sure is where the single guy’s going. I wasn’t surprised they were quiet for two reasons. One - their dog’s not here yet. Two - I noticed that people usually wait till they get settled first, then a week or two after moving is when they draw attention to themselves and rub their presence in on the neighborhood.

A gray van I’d never seen before went by our house but I couldn’t see where they came from. I waved and they waved back. There were at least two people, and the passenger may’ve been a fat adult female. Couldn’t tell too well with the sun’s glare.

Saturday we checked out a road that we thought would take off a good 30 miles or so when going to Melanie, but it was in really shitty condition. However, the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful and made our land look dull. It had an awesome mountain view with tons of saguaros one way, then in the other direction, you could see a town far off in the distance. I’ll bet the distant lights at night are gorgeous. You can see that and beautiful mountains from our place too, but nothing like this. And we’re too low for saguaros to grow naturally, although they’ll be fine once we plant them. Saguaros occur in the higher desert. This area, though, wasn’t for sale, had treacherous roads, and no electricity around for miles.

We’re supposedly screwing sometime today, but I’m sure there’ll be some excuse to get out of it, or some problem with it if we do get around to it.

Later…

So, was I right about him having a mid-cycle excuse? Yup. He was too tired. Figures, huh? Well, I know I can’t conceive, but he obviously doesn’t, so from now on I’m gonna try to hide from him just where I am in my cycle so he doesn’t have to get all wound up for nothing. It’ll be easier to do once we get in the house, cuz he’ll seldom be in the bathroom I’ll be using, so I can hide pads and tampon wrappers easier. My cycle isn’t always predictable, but it’s close enough, even if I have erratic spotting at odd times.

I tested him earlier. He passed just like I knew he would, but even so, I still like testing people from time to time, even if I know what their reaction’s gonna be. I just like to see it periodically.

I said that maybe we could bring women into our sex life, and he seemed to truly be disinterested and he said he didn’t want that. He wanted me (just part-time, not that that’s not good enough for me). When I told him I was testing him, he said he thought I was testing to see what I could do. Hope, not at all. Women are fun to fantasize about, but ever since I met Tom, I’ve never had the desire to act on any fantasies. This sort of surprises me, despite how much I love Tom, but then again, love and lust are two different things, so I guess I really should be surprised. As I’ve said, sex is a tiny part of this relationship, as far as I’m concerned, and I love Tom way more than I lust for him. I’m glad this is how I feel, though, and wouldn’t be happy with someone I lusted for but did not love. That would’ve been fine in the past, but not now.

I have a lot to be grateful for. Not just that Tom doesn’t think with his dick, not just that I quit wanting a kid and don’t have the sexual drive I used to have, but that I am finally healthy and happy. I may still get tight at times, but look how long it’s been since I’ve had to go to the ER! God’s blessed us with a great house, nice stuff, and he’s finally allowed me to quit smoking and get on a schedule. If only he’d let me lose weight now! Well, he may choose not to help me with the hunger part of it, but I have to at least not eat. I have to face reality. I’m not in my 20s anymore and I never will be again, so I can only have a bite a day if I want my weight to be somewhat reasonable, and this is the way it’s always gonna be.

Tom got to the hotel right before 9:00 this morning and had me get him up at 1:00. We went to the trailer, and oh my God! Even in the middle of the afternoon, it was chilly as all hell and we had to run the heat for a while. It felt like late August-early September in New England.

The plug he got for the electrical box was the wrong size, so he’ll have to get another one. At least it didn’t cost even a buck.

He measured walls and windows for drapes and murals, and we worked on Jade some more. It wasn’t very easy. The legs set great, but stuffing the body was harder than it sounded, cuz we had to get things evened out and proportioned. I wonder if the cloth body, which is what you fill, is too big for this doll. There’s a lot of bunched material, so it looks like she’s got skinny legs with a fat ass. It doesn’t have to be perfect, though, cuz clothes cover the non-porcelain parts of dolls. We just have to get it close enough so her dress doesn’t appear to have a funny-shaped body underneath.

Hey, I didn’t write about my new cactus clock and paper. We went to a touristy Walgreen and I got a cactus clock, but they didn’t have the cactus plate I wanted as well. I got paper for letters to Paula with pretty watercolor splashes throughout it. I’ll keep a few sheets for myself too, and maybe use some for those lying control freaks in Florida. I still intend to mail them pictures once the house is set up, but I’ll have to use the back.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1999
I thought I’d write and keep from getting overly behind, cuz I can’t focus on reading right now. Writing requires me to focus too, but in a different way.

It appears Gravity’s skipped out on us. I hope he knows this means he won’t be getting paid. Since Gravity won’t haul his blubber out and finish his job, Tom’s gonna get the plug for the electric box so we can have heat Wednesday night and sleep in the house for the first night ever (we’re now at the Fairfield for three days. Same room as last time)! We’ll be able to heat the place, but we’ll have to go to the trailer to the bathroom since the damn well’s still not drilled.

Brian strapped the house down with metal straps that attach to a 3’ pole that he slowly drills into the ground with some really cool tool.

Tom and I discussed plans for outside the house - where the pool will go, the deck, stuff we want to plant, and we even discussed getting a couple of horses. They stink and are more work to take care of than rats, mice and guinea pigs, but if it’s what we want, we can handle it. Tom’s quite an expert on horses, so I can learn from him just like he’s learned from me about things I know.

As I probably mentioned, I had begun growing my bangs out. However, it looked so geeky, so I cut my bangs back again earlier this evening.

I got another sitting music doll on the 19th (Stephanie) at the same store I got Melanie at. So far, I’m shocked to say it still works. We got it in an awesome grocery store in Sun Lakes. Sun Lakes and its stores are great, cuz just like with Sun City, it’s a retirement area, where everyone’s old, white and quiet. They just really annoy you with their 10 MPH driving speed.

Stephanie’s got auburn hair, blue eyes, and wears a blue and white dress with a touch of glitter. She has a white dove on her arm, too.

We began putting Jade together on Saturday. Saturday we wrapped the armature with plastic bags at the legs, then poured Durham’s rock hard inside the leg molds, then squeezed them on. We let it set overnight, but this morning, one leg was loose, so we reset it. Hopefully, we can stuff her up to her waist or so tomorrow, then set her arms.

Tom read a whole Dean Koontz book yesterday. One I bought and haven’t read yet.

He went down on me the day before and says we’ll screw tomorrow. And let me guess - he’ll be too scared to cum being where I’m at in my cycle, right? Good. There’s no sense in taking stupid risks.

I called Andy from the Southgate Hotel, and he said “Hello” in a calm, quiet voice. Then, in a more exasperated way, he said, “Bruce?” He let out a sigh of frustration at that point, then I hung up. This was the only call I gave him from that place, which turned out to be dead quiet. It wasn’t comfortable or convenient, though.

I called Andy three times tonight. He didn’t answer the first time, so I hung up on his machine. He answered the second time while I happened to be fiddling with the clock radio. “Your music sucks,” he said and hung up. I got his machine on the last call and it was perfect! What a funny, ironic coincidence that this God-obsessed guy got the message he got. I was just flipping to a religious station as the machine came on where a guy’s ending words of some speech were, “May God bless you.” He’ll love it! He’ll totally get a kick out of it, as well as a bit curious, I’d think.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1999
Gosh, it’s almost Friday already. We still have biweekly sex, although sometimes 3-4 weeks pass in between sex. I’m glad I’ve gotten used to this and I wish to hell I could know I’ll get used to the hunger once I begin dieting, but it never goes away. Not for me, it doesn’t. Anyway, whatever we do sex-wise, he won’t be squirting this time. Not with me close to mid-cycle and with his cumming just two weeks ago. It still strikes me as odd how God sees to it he doesn’t cum during mid-cycle, although he has a few times. That was quite some time ago, though. I know part of it is Tom himself, but if God can do anything, why put such effort into it and work at the timing and all that? I still say - why not just see to it that I need a hysterectomy? Why work at it needlessly?

Again, not a sound since we returned around 5:00. I let the housekeeper do her thing today, but she didn’t change our sheets. That’s OK. The stuck-on booger is way up by where the bed meets the headboard. We noticed this yesterday if this is really what it is.

APS finally came out today to do their thing, but once again, we’re waiting on fucking Gravity. He needs to get his ass out there and get the meter box up. I’m so damn sick of stupid incompetent little shits! One person says one thing while someone else says another, then Hilda says she doesn’t know who’s doing what. She doesn’t know? Then what the fuck is she in this business for? If she doesn’t know who’s doing what by now, she’s got a real problem. How many years has she been in this business? Well, I think it’s about time people start figuring out who’s doing what and do it! If Gravity wants his money and if people don’t want to get sued, they better get their asses in gear and us in that house by the 1st as the contract states.

One of the guys from APS, who has the same model we do, is in the process of suing Palm Harbor for similar problems we’ve got like with all the staples showing, the botched island trim job, the half-assed baseboard job in the entryway, and the crooked bar. Even Brian, who’s the only one who’s been dedicated so far, noticed the island trim, and he suggested I mention it during the final walk-through. Oh, I will. I’m not gonna necessarily have them fix things, cuz that’d just delay us from getting in there (we’ll fix their fuck-ups ourselves even though we shouldn’t have to. We paid them to do it) However, I am gonna point out these flaws to them. I understand no one and nothing is perfect, but this is a little overkill.

Also, why do people have to die that are associated with those working for us? First Gravity’s mother-in-law dies and now the carpet layer’s friend dies. The carpet would’ve been done today if the guy’s friend hadn’t been killed on a motorcycle. Hilda says it’d be no problem getting another carpet layer if she has to. Let’s hope not, although I still can’t understand why so many different people have to be involved. APS has to be APS, but why can’t Palm Harbor take care of their house’s setup as well? And the septic? We shouldn’t have bothered with separate contractors, but I guess it’s cuz we went through Steven and not Palm Harbor directly.

So we still need the septic filled in after it’s inspected. The electric box needs inspecting. We need carpet. And we need a fucking well, too. Where the hell is the well permit we should’ve gotten two weeks ago?

Again, I can’t wait to get into that house and away from people and their stupidity!!!

Our first stop of the day, after Tom got off work, of course, was to Home Bass. He couldn’t find the tool he needs for the rammed earth wall he wants to make. This is the one to keep loose dogs, coyotes, etc. out, and cut down sound, but we’ll still put up the barbed wire perimeter fence.

We looked at outdoor plants/trees, sheds, decorative light switches, and indoor/outdoor mats. Their indoor mats were a bore, but I got a nice flowery outdoor mat cut around the shape of the flowers.

We also went to Game Works and accumulated about 1400 tickets. Not enough for a 3000-ticket lightning lamp. So I got three 75-ticket velour bears and now I have a yellow one, an orange one, a red one, and a green one (they were out of purple ones) and I have a voucher for 1185 tickets. So, two more trips and we’ll have the lamp. It’s not nearly as cool as the lamp I saw at Home Bass, though, which was amazingly only $50. It’s a stick lamp that’s about 4’ high with water bubbling in it and it changes colors, too.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1999
Just made my hotel call to Andy. I forgot to even bother the last time around. Actually, I gave him two hang-ups on his machine cuz he didn’t answer.

We’re at the Southgate Motel now rather than a hotel as they all seem to be booked. The Fairfield is booked and the Hampton is booked. Something’s obviously going on nearby.

This place, which is the most old-fashioned of all, with real keys/has its doors outdoors like at that dive in Scottsdale. There are stairs you go up and a little walkway that goes down by the rooms so you have an outside hallway. I expected it to be the noisiest, but so far, it’s actually the quietest. With the fan on, anyway. Maybe it’s cuz there’s no hall for door slamming to echo in.

The place doesn’t even have wall lamps. Their lamps sit right on the nightstands. We got a king-size bed on the 2nd floor (it only has two floors) and the bed is awful. The worst thing about the place (I’d rather that than noise). I’ll have to sleep on the pillows and make sure I get my exercise mat to sleep on when we go to the trailer tomorrow (we’re booked for two nights). The carpet is old, worn, and stained, but softer than usual. It also has a little refrigerator and microwave.

There were a couple of not-so-impressive postcards in here. I wrote one up for Paula, then decided it wasn’t worth the stamp just to jot her a few lines. I’ll send her a real letter with more than just five sentences. I made up the other one with gibberish for “Deb Fanny.” Tom agreed it was funny, but said it’d stir things up. I know he’s just being paranoid, but that’s OK. I won’t mail it. They’re not worth it.

Target was the first store we went to, and I got four awesome pails! They’re small-medium sized and are for both baths, the retreat, and my office. I got two that are like soap dispensers with floating objects in oil and water at the bottom. One’s frogs and pink water lilies in green oil. One’s fish in blue oil. One’s just clear plastic with flowers. One’s cartoonish with lots of bright colors.

Got another clothes hamper and a pretty aqua-colored washcloth, so now we’ve got three.

I looked at pictures, and although I did find some nice ones, no big desert ones yet.

Because I’m a woman of variety, the house won’t have any specific theme decoration-wise. I’ve got everything from a picture of a sexy Indian lady, a disco light, dolls, and another broken music box. Yeah, I just had to get the broken one today at Walgreens, and I swear - it was not broken when I bought it, and I did not handle it rough enough to break it. It’s a swan figurine of spun glass with a little pink flower and pink bow that sits on a rotating mirrored bass. Fortunately, though, it can be glued back in place and still look nice, even though a piece is missing (the swans broke free of the base). It’s not like I wanted to play its music, anyway. I just thought it’d make a nice decoration and I always liked these since the first time we saw them nearly a year ago.

Originally, I had planned on getting a cactus clock and cactus plate, but this Walgreens didn’t have them, so I got the musical swans and a four-pack of body mists. I should’ve gotten this $8 4-pack, rather than the one big $8 bottle. The scents are water lilies, sparkling strawberries, Hawaiian ginger, and turquoise seas.

We also stopped in Radio Shack where I found the perfect pair of headphones for my stereo for $50, rather than $100 like at Best Buy.

Later…

This is definitely the quietest place we’ve stayed at. Not one slam or bang.

Our third and final trip to Marie Callender’s was a disaster, and this time I mean it when I say I’ll never go to a restaurant again. Ever! Only drive-through places. It wasn’t only due to screaming, unruly kids, who had to run around the place like wild animals, either. The service was absolutely horrid. I feel guilty for the way I handled it too, but I just couldn’t imagine sitting there without uttering a word and keeping it bottled up. I had to speak out, be blunt, get to the point, and defend both my husband and myself. Mark my words, though - that waitress is extremely lucky I didn’t go in there in a foul mood to begin with or else I’d have kicked her ass to hell and back.

First the bitch claims they were having some sort of problem, so she asked for our credit card and has us pay before eating. Then, we ordered. I asked her to hold the extra sauce from my ribs and chicken, but then when she served me, I had the extra sauce. Also, she served me first. That was rude. Everyone should be served at the same time. So I reminded her that I asked that the extra sauce be held, and she kept insisting I couldn’t do that. When I told her I did it the other night, she said I didn’t have to get mad and that she’d fix it. I wasn’t “mad,” although I was reasonably frustrated at this point. She did fix it. But when she brought my fixed food, apologizing like hell, she also brought Tom’s burgers and fries. Well, the fuck of a cook apparently couldn’t handle my complaint and sabotaged his fries with way too much spice. It was loaded with chili pepper. This was obviously in response to my having my food sent back, but why the little shit botched his food and not mine, and why there was no problem returning a too-raw steak at Denny’s one time, beats me, cuz this fuck’s reaction was your classic reaction. So damn typical! Why is it so hard for someone to just redo something, and move on? Everyone’s gotta be so fucking sensitive and take everything so personally.

So the waitress returns to ask us how things are, we mention the fries, then she asks him to sign the credit card thing without even offering a discount like Denny’s did, and I’m like - whoa, whoa! How about one after all this shit? Then she said something about taking care of it, and I asked to speak to the manager. So the manager comes, we tell her the scoop, she says it’s an insult to accuse her cooks of sabotage, she says her cooks wouldn’t do that (yeah, they’re perfect little angels), and on and on and on. When I realized she’d just sit there and make excuses all night, I took the credit card and receipt to sign and said, “Look. Let me tell you bluntly how it’s gonna be. We’re not paying for this. Period.”

Meanwhile, Tom had momentarily pushed his plate away from him and I was under the impression he wasn’t gonna eat his burger. The manager claims she refunded us, it was over, and so we left. Well, we sure hope it’s over. Amazingly, the Siesta Suites didn’t rip us off, according to the statement we just got, but will they? This is why I hate these damn credit cards, as I told Tom. You may as well hand out blank checks to people so they can just help themselves to whatever they want.

Anyway, to wrap this story up, Tom was upset I bluntly refused to pay and that he didn’t get to eat his burger. He wanted to at least eat that, then argue over the bill. He said not to feel bad about it, but I do and from now on, whenever we have a problem with someone, I’ll just sit there with my mouth shut and let him handle it no matter how much my blood’s boiling. I’m so sick of people and their incompetence and the problems they cause. I can’t wait to hibernate in that house, away from people. People are such stupid assholes.

Oh, and the manager also tried to tell us they season all their fries. Uh-huh. Sure they do. Just like the first two times we were there, right?

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1999
We’re back at the trailer now, and since being here, I’ve heard a vehicle drive by at least twice that I know of (yeah, they’ll be passing by more and more as they get closer to moving in). The last time I could’ve sworn I heard music. I know I heard music. I am gonna be made to be so miserable once these people get here till I put a stop to it. Why, God? Huh? Why do you insist I listen to others? You really will never let me live in peace, will you? It really is an impossible dream for me.

Anyway, Gravity’s fucked up on putting in our electric pole again. How many years of experience is this cock supposed to have? Naturally, I feel Tom’s being too nice about it. This man just can’t speak out and put his foot down to save his life, and whenever I’m upset with someone, he defends them.

These fucking “professionals” have a contract saying they have to be done by the 1st, but at the rate they’re going, we don’t stand a chance of getting in by then.

No one’s living behind us yet. I can tell this due to the lack of screaming and house music and I don’t hear any new barks yet, either. They won’t play their car stereo really, really loud, though, till they do move in.

Anyway, it’s obvious God wants me to survive, in the sense of the word, and I knew he wouldn’t ruin our lives by having us sell our house only to have the loan fall through and end up indefinitely homeless (or in apartments). But why oh why won’t he leave me the fuck alone with neighbor noise? Why is it so important to him that they be a part of my life? Is it compensation for not having to listen to a kid inside my own home for 18 years? What is it? Just what the fuck is it?

George said his supplies were stolen. He’s some type of engineer, I guess, who works on houses, and he says someone stole his carpet and tiles, but we think it was someone working for or with him that did it cuz he seems like he could be a read bold, arrogant little shit that someone would do that to.

How do I know the vehicles, especially the one with music, were in fact connected to behind us when I never saw them? I just do. Like I said, I know what God has in store for me. He wouldn’t let me live in peace in the middle of the fucking Arctic.

Tom says I’m a “skinny little thing.” Not at 122 pounds (we weighed ourselves on a scale in the store). Not according to the mirror. Yeah, I undid over a year’s worth of work in just a couple of weeks. I still can’t believe it shows in my face, neck and hips now too, and not just my stomach and thighs. My tits are 36-B. I’m no Dolly Parton, but I sure miss the little mosquito bites I used to have for boobs!

Well, if we can just get into the fucking house, I can start losing weight and toning up with a new home gym, but for now, I can cut down on the shit I’ve been having.

I also can’t wait to take a break from being on a schedule (can’t believe I’ve been on one for three months now!). I want to take a break from alarms and just get up whenever I wake up for a change. At least for a couple of weeks.

I’m gonna tear these pages out after I’ve typed them, then rebind the typed version in here. Meanwhile, rather than dump all this writing, I’ll send this to Paula.

There goes another vehicle. It’s true that they may not have turned down Meadow Green, much less been connected to in back, but it’s no shock to me we’ve got all these people moving in and I’m hearing more vehicles. Most of them have to be connected. Getting closer.

Tom reminded me that people out here don’t want to draw attention to themselves as they do in Phoenix, it’s a different lifestyle, the roads are too bad for a lot of company, and they’re too far out for a lot of company. He can say this all he wants, but these will be anything but rural folks. Maybe the family won’t do music (just barking and screaming, but the guy and his gal pal will certainly do it all. I’ll take care of them, though, trust me. This ain’t Phoenix no more. Here, there are no laws. You got a problem with someone - you shoot them. Unless Tom wants to sell off our property in chunks like George did so he never has to work again, I’m not moving. I’ll fight for my peace and home this time, even if I have to literally kill for it.

Later…

Now I’ll cover where we went today.

Poor Tom wasted time standing in line forever at the PO for that thing that was too big, which turned out to be a computer CD that was to the guy who had our box before us.

We went to K-Mart and Wal-Mart and got many of the household items we need, but we still need to get doormats, an extra hamper, and new pails for the offices and baths. Of course, his mom will be in the guest suite on weekends.

I still want to get a cushion for the car too, to boost me up to shield me from the sun better, and some for the blue chairs I’ll use in the retreat.

I’ve decided to wait on the murals and the big Angel Barbie. Yeah, they have this really cool huge Barbie I want to get someday.

I got those glass jar lamps I mentioned. A big one for the living room and two little ones for the retreat and office. One of the lampshades I picked out is a pink floral shade and the others are white. One has gold trim. I’ll put flowers in them.

I got a couple of bras and a beautiful velvet purple dress for only $10 that’s like a T-shirt dress. Freesia floral body mist, a couple of pairs of batteries, and more earplugs, I also got.

Got air and fabric fresheners and a new, bigger salt and pepper shaker set that’s nothing fancy. Just plain glass ones like in a restaurant.

I also got a dish/cup/glass/bowl/silverware set with a beautiful pansy design. Summer Blush, the theme’s called. I liked it better than the garden one. Got pink floral dish towels, too.

For the baths - can I ever get 20 things in a row without a problem? Every time I buy stuff, something’s got to be broken. I can’t get past buying 15-20 things without a problem. I got two cute soap dispensers for each bath with floating swans and ducks (the soap goes in a chamber below it) and one of them has a broken pump. Got a couple of toilet brushes, and since we rarely use washcloths, I got two new ones and four bath towels. We don’t bother with hand towels, so I didn’t get any. I got a purple and a pink washcloth. For towels, I got purple, pink, light pink and light blue.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1999
I hope our house is being carpeted right now!

Anyway, things here continue to be quiet. Just a few door slams and hardly any people. Tonight might be different, though. There may be more people and more banging.

OK, here’s what I feel is a nasty vibe and what he feels is pure paranoia on my part. Yesterday morning, a little white pickup that I’ve seen drive by before pulled up between the house and trailer, which by the way, could fit our old house, the freeloaders’, and the collies between it. He introduced himself as George P., the guy who owns the 10 acres behind us. He said that he’s retired and bought several lots that he split up and rented. Yeah, you heard right - he’s renting the four lots in back. I move out in the middle of nowhere and I still have renters next to me to deal with! They may not be subsidized blacks or Mexicans that are three feet away, but tell me they’re not going to be noisy and I’ll tell you you’re full of shit! Tom says the worst thing they’ll do is trash their place, but I know better. If no car stereos are blasting in and out, which Tom says its electrical connectors couldn’t hold up to over these bumpy roads, then there’ll be loud music coming from their houses. And remember, they make even the dumpiest stereos so bassy nowadays, that it doesn’t even have to be “loud” to be heard in our house. Tom says we’re too far away for them to blast music loud enough for us to hear cuz it’d blow their eardrums out. No, it wouldn’t. Dogs bark loud enough for us to hear without blowing their owner’s eardrums out. Granted, they are outdoors, but that’s just the thing - I think they’ll have windows open and music playing from outside.

We know there’ll be dogs to listen to, cuz George told us one of the guys moving in is planning on getting a Retriever. Yeah, I’m sure he is.

He says he only has two of the four lots rented so far, and that he was gonna buy our lot too, to split and rent, but I guess something was on next door’s side. OK, great. God looks out for them, but who looks out for me? And I let George know just how I feel, too. He claims he’s gonna sell, but so what? It’s still too many damn people over there. That’s all the more dogs and people I have to listen to till we get a wall up, and even then, nothing blocks out the sound perfectly.

He says they’re moving in next week, and that one more house is to be brought in. So the house we thought was on the closest lot to us isn’t really the closest to us. There’s gonna be three houses running non-parallel to our land in the back, then one property behind the three properties. The front house, which I guess isn’t rented yet, may sort of buffer sounds from the two behind it, but still, I know they’re gonna be a problem. And I’m not gonna call George (he gave us his card) when the parties get out of hand. I’m not gonna be stupid enough to complain to him just so he can tell them to quiet down so they can get even noisier. I simply have to take care of this one myself, and I will. No more neighbors’ noise! I mean it! They’re not gonna force their noise and their lifestyles on me. I’ll be damned if I’ll put up with their shit, and I don’t care what color they are! I won’t stand for it out there in our new home! And I was a fool to think God was finally releasing me from his near-decade-long obsession with pummeling me with neighbor’s noise! Yeah well, this is it. It’s over! I’ll fight for my right to peace within the walls of my own home even if it means getting a gun and killing them all.

Tom says he’s 97% sure that all we’ll hear from them are dogs. Yeah, right! And pigs can fly. Well, I’ll shut them up ASAP. I’m not taking another 8 years of this fucking shit everywhere I go.

I reminded Tom that before we even bought the land I vibed it building up and getting noisy once we moved in. Well, these renters moving in are quite a coincidence so far, wouldn’t you say? Especially when I have an 80% accuracy rate.

I also reminded him that Dan was upset about all this too, and that had to be a reason. He said Dan would be worried about them not maintaining their place, not about them being noisy. If it were a case of them simply trashing the place - fine. Any trash that made it to our property would be barely noticeable what with how big it is, unlike with the filthy Mexicans in Phoenix.

George said that in the farthest house were three people. Two kids and one adult, I thought, cuz I saw two little boys head over there twice, but Tom thinks it’ll be one kid and two parents. In the middle will be a single guy with a girlfriend and this is the one I’m more worried about as far as music, parties, and vehicles coming and going, but Tom says he thinks it’ll be a guy like Dan.

Later…

I have more bitching I want to do about the problem coming behind us, but first, we went to Game Works again and I had fun playing skeeball again. Then I found the best ticket-spitting game I wish I had known about all along. It’s this needle that spins till you stop it, and you win the number of tickets it lands on. Of course, I missed the jackpot several times by one spot. I think most of these games are rigged like most slot machines are in casinos. Anyway, it was a lot of fun playing both games, although next time I’m just gonna play this spin thing and rake in the tickets so I can get more little velour teddy bears. This time, though, we set out to win 1000 tickets, and according to the guy at the prize counter, I had 1040 tickets, after we counted something like 850. Tom says they usually say you have more. I guess so. So, I got what I wanted most - a disco light. It’s really cool. Nice and colorful. I have it going now in our hotel room.

Later…

Changed my mind. For 600 tickets, I think I’ll get a lava lamp or one of those lights with purple streaks of light that look like lightning bolts.

I was pissed to find no one came to the house at all. No carpet layers, no APS, no well drillers - no one. Tom still believes we’ll be in the house by Thanksgiving. I wish, but that ain’t what I think! I think we have another 2-2½ weeks to go and that we won’t get in there till just after my b-day.

Now for the latest Andy news - I did get mail from him after all. I was wondering when he, or someone, was gonna forward mail to me. Someone other than Paula, Kim, or Bob.

It took me a few minutes to remember and unravel the mystery. When Tom came in he gave me an envelope with no return on it and I immediately recognized my own handwriting. I knew I didn’t send myself anything, though, and wondered if Tom was playing a joke on me, even though this didn’t seem to be his style. Then I remembered. When Andy went through all that bullshit talk about moving back east, I sent him font samples to pick out for letters and enclosed a SASE for him to mail me his selections back in. He never used that envelope, though. I never knew why he didn’t, and I never questioned it, but he used this envelope and enclosed one of my little sheets of paper with mumbo-jumbo on it. But what surprised me was - that was it? No writing or decorations on the envelope? No enclosing anything else, like a fuck you letter? He really does hate to write.

Tom said that it gets even weirder, cuz we’ve got mail waiting for us that’s too big for our box. At first I thought it was a CD from one of his computer clubs or something like that since I couldn’t imagine anyone I knew sending me something that big, but then Tom said he knew what it was - our house payment coupons.

I called Jamie at the doll store who said the dress wouldn’t be ready for another couple of weeks. That’s OK. She won’t be together for a few weeks yet, anyway.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1999
We’re at my favorite hotel now - the Fairfield Inn. He just left for work and I’m finishing up the laundry here which sure beats Laundromats! We’re on the first floor for the first time, at the end of the hall. The washer/dryer is at the other end of the hall by the front desk, so I don’t have to lug the clothes up and down the elevator.

I decided that “mysterylin” has to go. If I’m gonna change cites and addresses, I may as well change screen names, too. This way I can unlock my mail controls when I want to without having to worry about hearing from anyone I don’t want to hear from. I thought of names like doll99, rodent99, but I think I’ll try for desertwinds99.

Later…

Laundry’s all done. So now I’ll cover what we did today, things about the house, then the bad news last.

After leaving the land, we stopped at Circle K in Maricopa for cookies for both of us, coffee for me, and soda for him. Then we went through a drive-through near the here, then came here. We came at 1:00 and were told no rooms would be available till 3:00, so we sat out front for a while browsing through truck ads. Only a few looked like they had any potential. We got machines or no answer on most of them, but there’s this one we may check out.

We went to K-Mart to look at household things we want for the house, but all I got, since the car and trailer are pretty packed and since I don’t want to put anything in the house till it’s carpeted, was a picture I didn’t expect to get. It’s a pretty good size for just $6, too. I was looking for desert cactus pictures, but instead, I came across a picture of a beautiful Indian woman (a copy of an oil painting).

For window treatments, we have flowers and crisscross lines in the master suite (bedroom, bath, and retreat). The den and living room have this very boring yellow and dark blue pattern, the kitchen has crisscross lines, and the other three bedrooms have stripes. The stripes are fairly colorful, and they can stay cuz I really don’t have to worry about them clashing with anything. The retreat’s flowers and crisscross designs can stay too, but the bedroom has to go. I want to get solid-colored drapes in there, so they won’t clash with the comforter. I want a white or cream-colored lace for the kitchen, and I’m not sure about the den and living room. The bathroom windows are frosted and they don’t open. Maybe I’ll take the flowers and crisscrosses that are in the master bath and put them in the den since all they really need is the lace valance under it. And maybe I’ll wrap my silk flower vine around the living room rod.

The lowest part of the ceiling is 7’ and the highest is 9’. I’ve got three walls picked out where there’s no slant above it where the wall/ceiling meets for mini-murals. I still may get borders too, but definitely not door murals.

I don’t exactly have a place to hang wind chimes yet so I sort of wish one of our ugly minute trees, which have a lot of bare branches, were near the house. I could hang them on that.

Perhaps it’s only normal, and perhaps it’s lazy stupid Mexicans and their sloppy workmanship, but we’ve been finding some imperfections with the house. The breakfast bar is tilted. Maybe it won’t show as much with stuff on it, though. Also, they put the dining room light switch in an odd place; on the back wall by the door. The fucking cocks did a sloppy, half-assed job with the trim on the bottom of the kitchen island, and only half a trim job in the entry area. The fourth bedroom’s door doesn’t close all the way and needs sanding. We have a lot of wall panel staples showing too, that we have to caulk.

Hopefully, the carpet will be down tomorrow. Then he can call Hilda to see if a cleaning crew is gonna go through there or what. I’d hope so cuz it’ll be a lot of cleaning to be done, but at the same time, I may as well do it myself to get in faster. We just want in!!! Even if that means tying up loose ends ourselves.

I’m getting a bit tired, so if I don’t get to the shitty news today, I will tomorrow. Tom says I have nothing to worry about other than typical dog-barking. God, I hope he’s right!!!!!

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1999
Starting off on a sad note - Vanilla Belly died today. Tom told me he didn’t think he was acting right ever since moving here. All he seemed to me was a bit lazier, but I guess something was wrong all along and I just didn’t see it. Tom buried him in front of the trailer. I’m gonna really miss him. He was a bit shy but very loving. He was so big and I liked how he looked like your traditional brown rat, yet also had a touch of color. He had a sprinkle of white hairs besides a patch of what on his belly and chest.

He never appeared to have any tumors, and neither did/does Mocha, who seems to be dying, too. It’s the weirdest thing I ever saw. When I got her, she looked like a normal mouse who was pregnant, but now she doesn’t look pregnant at all, and her back legs look odd. Like they’ve been disjointed and are too long for her. It’s like they’re suddenly deformed and are sticking out at the hips too, making her look anorexic. Tom said he thought she looked like she was having trouble breathing. Yeah, I thought so too, but she is getting around. I’ve even seen her wheeling.

Today was a pretty leisurely day. I didn’t go anywhere for the first time in ages (it was dead quiet all day, and I heard very little after-dark barking), but he did. He went to get us some lunch and to get more gas. He also dug a hole behind the trailer to dump the shit tank in. It stunk, too!

Baby Scuttles is really growing. I want him to stay my cute little Scuttles, but I also want him to get fat enough for the other cage so he can’t squeeze through the bars.

Last night I slept with an earplug in. The foam kind that was pretty useless for me in the NHA, and it did great for blocking out his snoring, but he did wake me up a few times when he shook me awake by shaking the trailer when he’d toss and turn, then when he got up.

I never finished with all we did on Friday.

We went to a Chinese/American buffet, then to a close-out store next door. I bought an OK-fitting skirt for $5 and a shitty-fitting dress for $5. As Tom agreed, it wasn’t cut right, and that’s why it ended up at that store.

I got a bundle of purple flowers with a touch of yellow. I know the name of these flowers but forgot them. I’ve got to get some vases, though.

Tom picked up a cheap set of utensils and a small frying pan for making hot dogs.

Oh, I also got a couple of silver pin barrettes to hold my bangs to the side.

Later on, at the grocery store, I got a cute little musical doll which I named Melanie. It plays the Barbara Streisand song The Way We Were. It’s a sitting doll with a nice face for just $13. She has brown hair, green eyes, and wears a dress whose color is a cross between maroon and brown. She has white patterned stockings with cream-colored shoes. Her hair has two braids on each side of her head. As figures, though, her music box broke shortly after I got it. Such shit doll luck.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1999
The dogs have settled in for another night of barking. Last night was the worst dog-barking night since we’ve been here. It began as the sun was setting, as usual, and continued on till around midnight. Some of the dogs sounded close enough to be loose and on our property, but we didn’t find any tracks. Maybe some were coming from next door. Having them live two football fields away isn’t always helpful when you’ve got nothing in between to buffer sounds, but we’ll get a wall up of some kind. At least it’s only for a few hours a day, and it sure beats noisy blacks and Mexicans with their fucking ball games and music blaring a few feet away.

No more Friday night stress! Normally, I’d be so stressed out at this time, knowing their company had to be mine too, but no more!

I hope these Mexicans are really dumping their shit on those greedy fucks that bought our house. They did send Hilda a bill, after all. The moochers wanted more than $250, but Hilda let them know that’s all they’re getting. I made Tom promise not to give them one more dime if they try to weasel more money out of us in a few months from now and to drive me to that house to deal with them in person. He agreed. He said he’s only giving them the money to avoid the hassle of having to go to court even though we know damn well we’d win cuz they never set up a final walk-through.

Well, they’ll hear from me one last time and that’s my promise. It just may not be for a while.

We think one of the reasons so many dogs suddenly start going off at sundown is cuz of the coyotes. Coyotes get more active and start howling when it gets dark. We were outside earlier and heard about three of them howling and it sounded so cool.

I’ve seen some wild horses in some of the really deserted pieces of land.

Tom says that the land in front of us isn’t part of this subdivision. It’s not part of an Indian reservation, but it could be some kind of government land. We’ll have to see if we can find out who owns the land in front and to our right and what their plans are.

It’ll be a shame when they tear down “psycho soldier’s” house. This is an abandoned single-wide trailer a few miles from here with military camouflage on it.

It’s a surprise just how many deserted houses there are out here. Also, there’s such a huge mix of nice houses and rundown ones. Mostly rundown ones, though, that are pretty old.

Tom said Maricopa must be a bit of a depressing town filled with broken dreams. This subdivision was somebody’s failed dream. The four or so acres of dead trees in the center of town are obviously someone’s dead dream. We’re not sure what the trees were and what they were supposed to do with them, though.

Speaking of my dream, which is to get moved into that house for once and for all, I’m finding little things I’m not too thrilled with, but I understand that nothing and no one’s perfect. The stupid Mexican left a globe off one of the lights. Also, Tom says he thinks Brian’s done a good job, but I feel like he’s been cutting corners and weaseling out of jobs like putting door handles on all the doors. We agreed we’d do these little things ourselves so we can get in there faster, like cover some of the wall board’s staples that are showing, but we shouldn’t have to. This should’ve been done already.

At least Brian’s leaving us some goodies. Wall strips, caulking, and odds and ends like that.

I marked my vibes on the calendar with Tom yesterday and some of them aren’t great. I vibe the carpet layer coming Monday and the electricity being taken care of by next Wednesday, but that fucking well, among other things, like inspections, could take longer than we’d like. Tom still thinks we can get in the house between the 20th-24th, before Thanksgiving, but I don’t think we’ll be in there till the 29th or 30th. Maybe even not till the first week of December, even though we have papers guaranteeing us that we’ll be in by December 1st.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1999
Back at the trailer now till Sunday. I ended up enjoying my stay at the Fairfield Inn, even though last night was bangier than the first night. There were more people. Just for the hell of it, I called the room next door and told them to shut up. “You have the wrong number,” the cock was saying as I was hanging up.

Thank God housekeeping at the Harley in Enfield, CT wasn’t as it is out here. Out here, housekeeping’s nothing but Mexicans. No white people at all do hotel housekeeping.

Like an idiot, I slept till he came in at 10:00 and brought me a letter from Paula. It was a nice letter I was happy to get and I did write back, explaining all the events from when we left Phoenix till now. She enclosed two pictures. One of her son and one of her car. Like I really care? I mean, I’m glad she’s got a car and her son’s nice, but what about her? I’m just not meant to ever get a picture of her. She did, however, request my email address saying she wanted to send me pictures, so who knows? I let her know, though, that I won’t have access to the computer for a while yet.

She basically asked why she hadn’t heard from me. She enclosed a phone number, but I’m not gonna call. Nor am I gonna give her our cell phone number. I explained that we have to pay for incoming calls we get and that we ain’t that rich (although I’m sure we’re just about the richest people in Maricopa. One look at our house will tell you that much. Also, we made over $32,000 this year). I told her we probably won’t get regular phone service, even though in truth, I’m sure we will. I just don’t want to go back to the constant calls from her, even if she pays for them. I gave her our PO Box address.

Here we go again with the barking. Yeah, it’s been a bad dog night. There must’ve been a loose dog nearby cuz its barking sounded too close to have been coming from the nearest houses. I’ve heard barking coming from all different directions.

After leaving the hotel we went to Game Works again where we played that skeeball game again that I like and a couple of slot machine games, too. We won nearly 400 tickets and I got a yellow teddy bear, and a purple and a blue picture frame to go with my pink one.

We bought most of our furniture too, and I think I may’ve forgotten to write about the living room set we bought a few weeks ago. Both stores we got furniture from are gonna deliver to us, but before we knew this, Dennis, who’s so incredibly nice, offered to haul it here in this truck for us. He’s also gonna hunt really hard to find us a truck. Well, we certainly haven’t had any luck ourselves.

Anyway, the living room set I chose isn’t what I expected. It’s better. It’s a soft crushed velvet-like type of material. It’s solid black with gold trim. We got a couch, a loveseat, and a chair. Got three glass tables too, with gold and black. The tables we can fit in the car. The tables are tempered glass. Not the wood and light-colored floral fabric I planned on originally, but man is it gorgeous!

Got a beautiful gold spider lamp to go with it, and I almost bought this other really gorgeous lamp, but I decided to make my own instead. It had a mauve-colored shade with mauve-colored flowers in a glass bass, but I decided to get K-Mart’s glass jar lamps and put some of my own silk flowers in it.

We got two black stools for the breakfast bar and a black kitchen table with four black velvet chairs with gold and blue streaks throughout the sets and backs.

Instead of getting a tall dresser, a headboard, and two nightstands for the bedroom, I got one nightstand and a long dresser. These are whitewashed with gold trim. The nightstand has two drawers, and the dresser has a mirror.

Now all we need to get is a washer, dryer, entertainment center, computer desk, and a brown wooden nightstand to match the brown wooden dresser in the guest room, and a double bed for that room, too.

We’ve spent a total of $2,406.31 on furniture so far. Tom thinks we’re right on track, but I think we’re ahead of what we budgeted by $400-$600.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1999
This hotel is turning out to be the best. The only thing it lacks is a coffeemaker, but I don’t mind going downstairs for coffee. They have both decaf and regular to choose from, and they have French vanilla.

It’s been quiet overall. Just a few scattered door slams. Tom said the walls are wicked soundproof cuz as he was leaving for work last night he could hear next door’s TV blaring into the hall which we never heard in here.

Tom called at 8:00 and got me up, then he called again after he ate a half-hour later. He went to see his ma and do Mary’s threshold, then I headed down to the continental breakfast where there was only one person. There haven’t been many people here.

As I was heading out, I saw the younger Mexican girl who changed our sheets standing by her cart. I asked her in English for a Do Not Disturb sign since we never had one. I should’ve known better than to have asked in English, so I asked in Spanish and then she called out in Spanish to Mario, the maintenance guy as the old Mexican lady (the boss) that was with the younger one yesterday came up to me and said, “Yes?” I asked again for a sign and they gave me one. The older one then moved further down the hall and in Spanish I told the younger one we didn’t need service today as Mario and I were heading for the elevator. The older one called, “Senora? No servicio hoy?”

I replied, “No servicio, gracias,” then hopped into the elevator.

“Beautiful Spanish,” complimented Mario.

When I returned, the young one smiled at me with mixed emotions. It was cool that the white girl knew Spanish, but she had to have gotten a verbal warning, if not a written one, for not changing our sheets.

Although Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and the like are notoriously lazy, I understand how easy it is for anyone to want to laze out of a bed or two. I know. I was once a housekeeper too, and here and there I didn’t bother changing sheets, but I was smart enough to at least pluck the hairs off first.

I dozed off for about an hour this morning, then when Tom came in at 10:00 and extended us for another night, we were given a bag of treats cuz of the sheets. This was a really nice gesture. It contained two small bottles of water, two bags of cookies, two Ritz crackers, two rice crispy bars, figs, and cheese crackers.

We headed for the house to take care of the animals and check the house’s progress. At least Brian’s making good time cuz Gravity’s not, and who knows when we’ll have a well.

My view from my “office” is really neat. I can see a row of about half a dozen palm trees off in the distance that’s a few miles away. Right now, there’s nothing but a little bit of natural desert and a lot of farmland in front of the house.

Here goes Tom talking in his sleep again. I couldn’t make out what he said this time.

We spent about a half-hour on the land where I ruined my sunglasses. They just weren’t dark enough, so I painted them purple, using the paint I used on the plastic suncatcher, hoping to darken them. Instead, all I did was make it too rippely so I couldn’t see well through them.

After we left, we went through a drive-through, came up here, and now he’s in bed. I’ll be listening to music and latch-hooking for the remainder of the day.

Later…

I guess it’s not gonna be very full tonight, either. I just went downstairs for coffee and I never passed a soul along the way.

Later…

Again I didn’t pass a soul.

I finished the second out of a 4-book series of V.C. Andrew’s. It’s a little series compared to the other two I read that had 5 books with 400 pages each. This 4-book series only has 150 pages each. Actually, there is a fifth book in this series (I don’t know how many pages), but it’s not due out till next month.

Tom finally received his yearly planner and pen from Ashton-Drake.

I forgot to describe the games we played yesterday. He played a basketball one, but it didn’t give tickets. Another game we played against each other, which also didn’t give tickets, was a mini bowling game thing. We played a slot machine-type game, and a Jet Ski race that you sit on and that shakes while you see an image of a jet water skier on a big screen in front of you. My favorite game was this thing where you throw balls down a narrow strip and up into these bins. Your points depend on which bins you get balls in.

Later…

Went downstairs and got an apple along with my coffee. They had the usual for breakfast - muffins and cereal. I think they had bagels and yogurt, too. This morning I grabbed a couple of mini chocolate chip muffins. I better enjoy all this eating now, cuz as soon as we get into that house, all this eating has to stop, and it will stop.

I’ve decided to place one call to Andy each time we’re in a hotel. I’ll leave hang-up messages when he doesn’t answer. He answered when I called him just now, but I hung up as soon as he did. I wasn’t in the mood tonight to hear anything he may’ve said. Having Tom right here kind of dampens my curiosity, too.

I wonder if Andy ever got the numbers I called from. I wonder if he’d have been confused getting numbers from the La Quinta, the Hampton, and here. Or maybe he figured we were in the house already (I never mentioned the layover) and that I wouldn’t be dumb enough to allow him to get my number. It’s quite amusing to think about, but I’m certainly not gonna be doing this in the house, even if I can block our number from there and even if it’s not long distance. This is strictly a hotel game.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1999
Got my period today (a crampless one). Must be why he came yesterday. I doubt he’ll do that again till April. At least I can never get pregnant and have to lose my life! This is how much I know God is on my side too - he’ll make sure something comes up so we can’t even get together at “prime time,” rather than get together without cumming. My hormones are what I believe God used to ensure me a life of freedom. I really think my hormone levels are wacky somehow.

We’re now at the Fairfield Inn, which is quiet so far, and gives you candy, but is otherwise not very good. Those damn Mexicans. They just can’t do anything right. It was obvious our sheets hadn’t been changed. I could tell by all the hairs on the sheets. So I had them change it. We got a king-size bed just like last time at the Hampton.

Later…

It’s still been pretty quiet here; just a few door slams. I can’t believe hotel doors weren’t created to close quietly. You’d think they’d consider that.

OK, let me cover the day’s events before I get backed up again and end up having more than just one day to update.

We left right after Brian arrived to work on the house. We were inside it right before he came. It’s now joined enough that you can walk throughout the inside, but you have to step around screws and over rolls of carpet and other supplies.

After leaving, we ate at a drive-through, then Tom took us to Game Works. He still had about $15 left in games that he got through the bank. It was fun and we ended up getting nearly 180 tickets from games which we traded in for stuff. I got a few beaded necklaces, a picture frame with stringy, pink shiny crinkled paper around it, and a finger puzzle. I didn’t even know what that was, but he insisted I get it, then showed me how it worked. It’s a little tube of woven straw that you put a finger in, then pull on and get your finger stuck in. You have to sort of scrunch the tube together in order to get your finger out.

Tom slept for a few hours after we checked in here, then we went to Marie Calendar’s, and now he’s asleep again till I get him up at 11:00. Marie Callender’s is a huge restaurant. He got a burger and I got the baby-backed ribs/jumbo shrimp combo. It was pretty good.

Out of all the places we stayed, each has its pros and cons. I like how this place has coffee available in the lobby 24 hours a day. They even have laundry available. Although there was only one washer and one dryer, I was surprised to see them unused and without a ton of people waiting to use them. I’m sure that if I had wanted to use them, there’d be a ton of people trying to use them, too. Although the tub is shitty, cuz its back is straight up and down so you can’t comfortably lay back, this place has the best shower. Most places are too wimpy, but this one’s got a massager on it, so you can make it pretty hard.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1999
Brian and a guy named Brandon came to level and join the house today. They were working everywhere; on the roof, underneath, inside.

When we were in the living room yesterday, we could see several other things besides rolls of carpet. There were extra roofing shingles, the air duct, etc.

It’s just so cool having a house custom-built like this! It’s such a neat feeling to be able to look at the house’s color and know that it’s that color cuz I chose it. There’s tulip wallpaper in the kitchen and baths cuz I chose it. The cabinets are whitewashed cuz I chose it.

The shower stalls are pretty neat. They have seats in them. But who wants to sit down while they’re showering? Maybe an old person.

We left the Hampton, which was noisier than it ever was before, at 10:30. We were right by the stairs which were where a lot of the noise came from. I was shocked at how many people used the stairs.

It’s amazing the contrast in Andy since I left Phoenix. People sure are different when they pissed at you. He told me so many times - I’m such a loser, Jodi. I have no life. Yet now he suddenly has a life. How convenient.

I wasn’t fat the last time he saw me, but now I’m fat and ugly.

Well, hopefully he can remember the good times, but if he doesn’t - he doesn’t and that’s just too bad for him.

I asked Tom what he thinks next door thinks about us moving in (they probably took a look at the size of the house and assumed we’re Mormons). He says they’re probably anxious and uncertain, now knowing what to expect. Good. Let some neighbor feel that way about us for a change. It’s about time the tables turned. It’ll be my turn to have those feelings again, though, the more things build up. Wait till all these little boys grow up to get loud car stereos and to have loud, wild parties while their parents are off vacationing somewhere.

He didn’t get to Mary’s today so we did the laundry in Tempe in a quiet place.

Tom had to pee so bad that we stopped at the AK-Chin casino cuz he didn’t think he could make it to the trailer. We gambled $10 each. He doubled his money and I lost mine, so it ended up costing nothing.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1999
Gosh, I’m getting more and more backed up! We’re at the Hampton now (his pick), but actually, I’m here by myself cuz he’s at work.

Last Thursday night we stayed at the Holiday Inn, which was $20 more than the average hotel rate around here. It was the best-decorated hotel, with lots of cactus decorations, and it had laundry rooms but wasn’t worth the $20 extra in our opinion.

Friday we went to Casa Grande to get home insurance, then to a really nice buffet.

Sounds like it’s finally quieted down around here. This time around is not as quiet as the other times we were here.

We had our first visitor on our land that wasn’t a neighbor. A woman was doing a neighborhood census. She came knocking on the trailer door since it was more than obvious no one would be living in a house with two separate halves side by side with their inside sides covered with plastic.

Anyway, after Dan, the cowboy, and his Mexican assistant had been around a while, I finally got to meet Gravity. As Dan said - he’s a big boy. Maybe his mother knew somehow that he’d grow up to be so big and heavy and that’s why she named him Gravity. It suits him so well. He brought a Mexican assistant too, the other Mexican’s cousin.

Gravity had his tractor in tow, which he used to dig a trench and hole for our septic/pipes.

Unfortunately, we had to miss seeing the house be hauled in. They were just finishing up as we were pulling in, and I wasn’t too thrilled to see one of the drivers was letting his German Shepherd run around our property. I would’ve ordered it into the truck had they not left when they did. How rude. Not just because some of us are afraid of dogs, but because it’s rude to let your dog out to shit and piss on someone else’s property.

The cowboy had to return the next day to add the grounding rod to the utility pole they put by one corner of the house whose halves were within inches of each other. That’s to prevent people from having an easier way of stealing your appliances, even if that’d be so very unlikely to happen. The chances of that happening where we are are next to nil. Dan did say things weren’t very good a few years ago, though, and that bad people moved out of the area. I don’t know what he meant by “bad” people. I don’t know if he meant burglars or just plain old snobs. The people that are there now sure seem to be the direct opposite of Phoenix folks. So many people wave to us on certain dirt roads out there. Nobody waves in Phoenix. They’re too busy blasting music and slamming doors for people.

Tomorrow morning he’s gonna do our laundry at Mary’s while he visits his ma, then we’re gonna check out a truck for sale in Maricopa I had a hot vibe on.

I can’t wait to type this up on the computer, and as always, my typed versions may slightly differ from my written ones, as I change/add/delete things. I don’t usually delete, though.

I’m on my third V.C. Andrews series, and never before have I ever heard of such a repetitious writer! Everything that happens in one series happens in another, and talk about being loaded with childbirth! Yeah, babies, childbirth, and the like still seem to be everywhere, in everything I do, see, and hear. And I thought I was once obsessed with the subject! The shit’s invading my new home. Tom found an easy way into the back half through the utility door, and so I walk through the den, into the kitchen, and what do I see? A woman feeding a baby in a picture on an ad on the dishwasher! I’m like - Jesus Christ, here we go again! It’s everywhere, and I still get the feeling that God’s got some message behind it, but what hidden meaning could I be missing that’d make any sense?

I called Andy again, curious to hear what he may say. As always, I kept silent. I have nothing more to ever say. My final words were already mailed to him, and as he said, “You got what you wanted, I read it all.”

He was so mean to Michelle tonight. I don’t know if that was really Michelle I heard in the background or not, but either way, what a mean thing to say regarding her.

The first time I called, he picked up, said hello twice, then called out, “It’s Mystery. Wanna torture her?” (pause) “No, we don’t want to talk to you. We have a life.”

Yeah, a life of smoking pot.

The second time I called, no one answered.

The third time, he again asked whoever the girl was if she wanted to talk to Mystery, then he said, “Well, start chewing. You’re gonna be as fat as Michelle. You’re gonna have to share clothes with her.”

I don’t care if someone ranked on me for how I look, but most people do, so that’s why I was like - how mean to Michelle! Michelle, you got a damn good friend in Andy!

Sadly, I’m sure she thinks so, although I can’t forget or deny that Andy and I did have some fun times in the past.

Anyway, Gravity plowed the ground under where the house would be and made it read powdery. Then he put stakes marking the house’s corners.

When I was walking around the house with tears of joy and disbelief a couple of evenings ago, words from a decade ago popped into my head. Back in ‘89, shortly after I’d returned to Woodside Terrace, I cleaned houses for a guy a few different times. I think his name was Jim. He drove me to a house in…Chicopee? Wilbraham? Either way, it was a gorgeous house I’d only end up cleaning once since I couldn’t really hold jobs and handle responsibility in those days. I remember being very sad, and telling the woman who owned it how depressing it was to know I’d never have a nice house, too. Her response - “Someday you’ll have a house that’ll make this one look sick.

She was right. So very right. I never would’ve believed it in a million years. A house like what we got just seemed too impossible of a dream to even dare to dream.

How lucky I am to have all my dreams come true, and those that haven’t, aren’t dreams of mine anymore.

No blessing is free of flaws, though. The fucking Mexicans put dual faucets in the baths, rather than a single lever one, but Tom says it’s more likely that Steven fucked up the order, or we didn’t get that package in the end. Well, at least I got more counter space than I thought we’d get in the master bath. Also, you know how I opted for dual linen cabinets in there rather than dual sinks? Well, one of the cabinets is huge! And just like with the kitchen cabinets, they’ve got adjustable shelves.

Also, not only are the cabinets the whitewash I chose over the oak but so are the doors! They’re even brighter than the cabinets (white) and are so bright and cheery compared to dark wood.

I got more than I thought I would as far as the Catalina window treatments go. I got like five different designs instead of three, and they’re just too “clashy.” The den and living room ones are ugly with shades of yellow and dark blue, and I think they’ll clash with my other decorations, so I’ll probably remove most of them. I didn’t know they were gonna mix so much together. I didn’t know there’d be lines with flowers, and I didn’t know I’d have a wooden floral border in the bathroom above the windows. This may go too, but I love the white lace under it. Both baths have frosted windows, too. They don’t open, either. This is OK, though, cuz we have fans to vent moisture.

Yesterday, a guy whose name we forgot came to level one side of the house, which took all day. Tomorrow, he’s gonna do the other half and join them together, too.

It was pretty neat watching him move the back half away from the front a foot or two. He had hydraulic jacks and as he was cranking this cable, the house slowly moved. It was so funny too, cuz it looked like this bionic man was moving a 22,000-pound house half (I think the front half’s 20,000). Our 2100-square-foot house is about as big as they come. At 76’ long, it took forever to walk alongside it!

Anyway, the guy leveled the front half with a level and water level (a hose). He put metal, cone-shaped stands on top of square cement slabs. Two rows of 15. He left his trailer there, as he asked to, and we nosed about it after he quit work for the day. He had all different size stands, among other things. We’re gonna put skirting around the house since we chose to keep it elevated, but it doesn’t look that ugly without it.

We got here at around 11:00 this morning, but they didn’t have a room ready yet, so we checked out a nearby arts and crafts store where I got a latch hook kit with a piano and rose design, a “stain glass” floral sun catcher, and he got a rock tumbler. I might have fun playing with that myself. We have a lot of quartz rock on our land.

The stained glass thing is a sheet of clear plastic with raised lines outlining the flowers that you apply acrylic paints to, and glitter too, if you want, then hang it in a window. It’s pretty cool looking.

I thought Tom was gonna punish me by avoiding having sex this weekend, cuz I lost my appetite for it last weekend, thanks to the little animals at the La Quinta, but I was wrong. We not only screwed, but he got off. And I had laughed at him, saying I’d heard that before when he told me yesterday that our sex would be fine for making babies once we got into the house. I’m sure it would be for a man who came regularly and a woman who could conceive, and who was meant to conceive. But, not that I’m complaining, he probably won’t cum again this century, and I can’t and aren’t supposed to conceive. Not in this life, anyway.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1999
I wasn’t really in the mood to write yesterday, but I am now, even if it doesn’t last long.

As I was saying about Dan - he says he knows most people around here and he too, isn’t happy that the lot behind us was split into four properties. He says there’s an older woman next door, her daughter, her daughter’s husband, and their 5-year-old son. The couple works in Casa Grande while the older woman watches the boy. The daughter had a fiancée die nearby in a car accident years ago.

Tom, who talked with Dan more than I did, said he was nosy and talkative, but at least he found out the phone prefix out here. The stupid phone company had the nerve to suggest we ask someone out here about prefixes after swearing they have our address in their records and telling us we’re in Stanfield, a little town nearby.

Anyway, Dan, who’s from Indiana, and who goes there during the summers, says next door watches his place while he’s gone, and that they’re nice people.

Where did all this friendliness come from? You mean, there really is such a thing as quiet and friendly neighbors in Arizona? Wow! Although I don’t know how quiet behind us will be once they get settled in. We’ve seen and heard two of the little boys that’ll be living there (why are there only little boys surrounding me?). Although we were too far away to tell for sure, I think they’re white, and I also heard a guy call out to a Matthew. Not a very Hispanic name.

Once they get settled in, though, as well as the rest of the people who are gonna be on that lot, I thank God they won’t be three feet away, cuz there’s gonna be a ton of screaming and barking coming from there. I know it.

We’ve seen quails, roadrunners, lizards, and about half a dozen coyotes. Tom’s seen a couple of jackrabbits, and earlier, when we were returning from Denny’s, our headlights picked up some furry rodent. Maybe a gopher? Fortunately, we have yet to see a snake here, but we did cross paths with what we’re pretty sure was a baby tarantula out on the road towards the back of the property. Tom stepped on it and killed it.

Dan says the high-pitched yipping we sometimes hear isn’t dogs - it’s coyotes. He says he has three dogs that are penned, cuz people here shoot loose dogs. Not fast enough, considering how many loose dogs we’ve seen. Since no one will take their dogs indoors out here, I wish they’d shoot any dog that was outdoors. I mentioned my not liking dogs cuz of their barking, and he said all you had to do was just get a good dog that doesn’t bark. I’m like, how? That’s what dogs do. Babies cry, cows moo, cats meow, and dogs bark. Some dogs may bark less than others, but there is no “good dog.” Not unless it was dead.

I’ve heard cows off in the distance towards the front. Cows make pleasant sounds, but they sure do stink! I hope this place doesn’t end up smelling like one big horse stall. Driving by these huge stockyards in Stanfield is miserable. Totally gross smelling.

God, I wish I had the computer to do all the writing I want to do! I miss it! At least I got to listen to my stereo today for a while.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1999
It’s here! The house is here! But it came today, not yesterday.
Yesterday was both a great day and a disappointing one.
Tom was called at work by Hilda, who said the house was on its way. He woke me when he got in at 8:00, but no one showed up till around 9:00, and it wasn’t the house. It was Gravity’s assistants, who never did introduce themselves. They were nice, though. The driver, a middle-aged white guy, was accompanied by a young Mexican guy. He spoke virtually no English, so while the “cowboy,” as we call him, talked with Tom, Mr. Mexico and I gabbed in Spanish. He complimented my Spanish, which I was surprised at myself, considering how long it’s been since I used it regularly. Or at least a lot more than I do now. I taught him some English words.
Maybe it was my imagination or maybe I’m just crazy, but I think the guy liked me. Don’t get me wrong. He was very polite and never once stepped out of line in any way, but I was like - I’m 33 years old, dude. Not to mention a good 20-25 pounds overweight. Couldn’t he see this? Although there are no laws saying you can’t be attracted to a middle-aged overweight person (even if no one else agrees with the overweight part).
After the cowboy and his pal arrived, a middle-aged, skinny white guy pulled up alongside our property in a small white pickup, walked over to us with his hand extended, and introduced himself as our neighbor Dan. He lives alone in a single-wide modular diagonally to us. Behind next door (it figures that the childless guy has to be diagonal and not next to or behind us and I know damn well that whoever ends up next to us on the other side and in front will be anything but childless).

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1999
It’s the eve of the house! It’s so hard to believe it’ll be here tomorrow. I just hope nothing goes wrong. We don’t need any incompetent fuck-ups working for us. As it is, we’re wondering things. Things like - why didn’t Palm Harbor check out what roads they’d be driving the house on? When are they gonna get trees and shit like that out of the way? They have to widen the road. The house is way too wide for it. Remember, most of these dirt roads out here only get a few cars a day on them. We’re so remote that we make Tammy seem like she’s in a little city. She can get to a store sooner than 20 minutes, and she doesn’t have 7 miles of dirt roads to drive on before she hits paved roads. Her nearest neighbors aren’t two football fields away, either. Aside from the few main 2-lane dirt roads, most of the dirt roads are single-lane roads that look more like large paths. Some of these roads are actually driveways leading to people’s houses.

Anyway, all I can do for now is hope everyone knows what they’re doing; the people driving the two house halves, Gravity and his crew, APS, the well driller, etc. It’s the damn well permit we’re waiting on. We may be able to get the house set up quickly with electricity and septic but be delayed from moving in cuz of the well, which will hold up the inspection.

They still have some standard procedures to go through too, before the house can be set up. They’ve got to level the land, clear away brush, and do a termite treatment.

I did some ant treatments today. God, I hate those ants! At least you can spot them from a distance, cuz they surround their holes with those weeds that have those stickers I hate. They peel off the little stickers and use those. I don’t know why they do this, but they haul pieces of it that are barely a quarter of an inch long and place them around their holes. I’ve seen them at work carrying the things. They have big black ants as well as little red ants.

I made myself a nice little walking trail that I not only get good exercise on but good color as well. I walk when it’s not too hot or too dark. I’d love to expand my little trail, but I can’t get by these washes too easily where the brush is too dense, and you just never know what creatures could be lurking in there. It’s still a good long trail, though. Way bigger than the perimeter of our Phoenix lot (these lots are numbered and we’re number 40).

At sundown, but while we still had enough light, I took him for a walk on the trail with me. He said he didn’t realize how far around we were going at such a bad time for snakes, and I was like, bad time for snakes?! He says snakes are out in the early mornings and early evenings and that they’re cold-blooded and cannot take heat or cold. Oh. I thought they were mostly out all through the night and were pretty much nocturnal like rats, but nope. Thank God one of us is a native and knows how this stuff works.

While we were out walking Tom said he saw them working on the houses behind us. I’m not looking forward to people moving in there! Not the people, but their dogs. A dogless household is so rare in Arizona and a dog that lives indoors is even rarer. Poor Gloria. She’s got to be going crazy with the two collies and the three dogs the people who bought our place have.

It’s still so weird that I don’t hear dogs here every night. That group of dogs that’s about a mile away were going off yesterday at dusk as we were leaving for our last night at the La Quinta, but not tonight. Tom mentioned the possibility of someone breeding greyhounds when we first heard it, and we saw one running around loose on our way into town earlier, but who knows for sure if what we heard really are greyhounds? No matter what they are, it’s nice not to hear them every evening, but I still wonder why we don’t. Just my inquisitive nature, I guess. Tom suggested it may have to do with the direction of the wind, but I doubt it. Those dogs were still loud enough and close enough to be heard even if the wind was blowing their barks away from us.

Tom refilled the trailer’s two propane tanks today and says we won’t have to empty the duty tank till we’re done with the trailer cuz it’s barely half full. That’s nice to know we don’t have to dig a hole every week to dump it. At first I was like - all this shit and we’re only half full? But we are only here a few days a week, after all.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1999
The house should have a roof now! As Tom said, though, it would’ve been nice to see it moved from one spot to another.

The house is due on Thursday, but when are they gonna drill the well and septic?

Yesterday I finished a book and forgot to get another one from the trailer, so I bought one at K-Mart. I read 255 of its 290 pages.

After work today Tom will be at Mary’s playing car again. Just how much of our time and money will this cursed car eat up this time? It’s the water pump this time.

I got up at 8:00 when the alarm went off, made coffee in the microwave, then went to the lobby for a muffin. I returned to the room and ate it, then I let the front desk know that now would be a good time to send up housekeeping.

A woman and the supervisor, the same one that knocked yesterday, came up and were very friendly. I let them know that all I really wanted was the garbage emptied and the bed changed.

The housekeeper and I chatted a bit, and she too, left Phoenix cuz she was just as sick of everyone wanting to be on stage and in the spotlight. She too, got sick of always having to know what her neighbors were up to, like it or not.

I asked if they had lotion and the supervisor generously gave me three bottles and apologized for disturbing us yesterday. She said new people were just hired and they screwed up and had the room listed as a check-out, so she thought the room was empty. No problem, I told her.

I’ll write about my “free” breakfast later.

Later…

I expect it’ll be hours before he gets back, knowing how car jobs always turn out to be a bigger deal than expected before we go out to the land.

Yesterday was acceptable here - just a few scattered door slams. Hopefully, God will let our last day and night here be peaceful and will let me be the childless woman that I am. But with kids being made to be part of my life anyhow, you just never know.

This place is in Phoenix right on the Phoenix/Chandler border. No wonder the tightness and congestion are back. And we’re by a major freeway too, with lots of traffic to pollute the air.

I had $12 and change and went to the Cracker Barrel restaurant after the housekeepers left, and ordered breakfast. I ate that to the tune of babies crying (usual restaurant sound), then walked out without paying. I left $1.50 for the waitress’s tip, and I would’ve paid if someone had been available to take my check and money, but I was ignored long enough and decided to split. Naturally, Tom would be anything but thrilled to hear this, so I’ll just tell him I got a buck’s worth of junk from the vending machine. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. It’s nice of me to lie to him, in a sense, what with how paranoid he can get. I mean, why stress the guy out unnecessarily? I just hope he doesn’t suggest we go there later and have me end up accused in front of him, but I doubt I would. I’m sure there’d be different people later, and even if there weren’t, I wouldn’t be remembered. Most people don’t have as good of a memory as I do and that place is pretty packed, so I’m sure one walk-out every now and then wouldn’t even be noticed. Not unless the person left the check on the table.

I have news regarding Andy, but first I want to shower. I’m a grub.

Later…

I called Tom at Mary’s. Mary answered, sounding pleasant enough (I was surprised there wasn’t some hostility cuz of my getting upset with Evie). Tom was just finishing up with the car. Another surprise. I thought it’d take till 6:00. This time it ate about $50 of ours.

He’s on his way here. He suggested going through a drive-through which I happily agreed to, conveniently commenting on how sick of noisy restaurants I am. After we eat, we’ll head out to the land so I can feed the animals, and this time, remember to bring a book back with me.

Later…

Tom’s still not back. For now, I’m listening to next door slam its door, and I thought I heard a little kid over there, too. Figures, huh? Can I ever have just adults next to me?

I was surprised to learn that pets are allowed here. An old couple and their dog passed by me in the hall earlier, and I saw someone out walking dogs, too. Even Tom had said he saw people walking dogs.

Later…

That vicious, no-good rat Polar Bear decided to go for bite number two and got me on the knuckle. It bled and I put a Band-Aid on it. I swear, though, if it weren’t for Tom, I’d fucking kill that rat! Or better yet, I’d turn him loose in the desert for the coyotes and snakes. That rat just will not allow himself to be picked up unless it’s for moving/cage cleaning. And only after the others have been moved first. I bopped him a few times and yelled at him, and like I said, it’s only cuz of Tom’s pleading that I didn’t go any further. That and the fact that Vanilla Belly and Scuttles felt he deserved a little protection and jumped on him. Ratsy kind of acted like nothing was going on and he stayed on his wheel. Tom was going on and on about how he’s just an animal, he’s blind in one eye, it’s his nature to be aggressive, etc.

Then on our way back, we got held up in traffic for at least a half-hour (must’ve been something big going on). At least I remembered to bring something to read, and at least Gravity will be out to put the septic on Thursday when the house comes.

I wondered if the rat attack and the traffic jam were my punishment for the breakfast I stole this morning, but I don’t think so. It doesn’t seem harsh enough.

Anyway, APS was out at the land while we weren’t there, cuz we discovered stakes for poles they put in. So APS is on a roll, and the house and septic are on their way but will the well driller hold us up in any significant way? I kind of think so. I still feel we won’t be in that house till November 20th-29th. I hope I’m wrong for the better, though.

I had a hunch they’d mail guest’s mail and was right. I brought Bob’s letter to the front desk on my way to get a soda.

The stupid shits screwed up again today and had us down for checking-out today, and just like yesterday, our key cards expired at noon and we had to get them reprogrammed. I’m sure this had to do with us changing rooms, but either way, the service is “horrid” as Tom says. They’re totally incompetent here.

I decided that I may’ve been too forgiving in the past, but that I was being too non-forgiving with Evie. I left her a message and let her know that I was sorry I didn’t handle things well and that I understood I was being a bit immature. Also, I loved her too much to be in any hassles with her, and shouldn’t have been so selfish with my conditions. I could simply move stuff if any kids were visiting. Yes, she should’ve come to me first, and no, I won’t be so forgiving if she does something again that I don’t like, but she does have a right to discuss whatever she wants to with whomever she wants to whether or not I agree with it. Nonetheless, I hope we can get along from here on out without offending each other. I explained that we’ll be without computers for a while longer and why, then I gave her our PO box address and cell phone number.

When I told Tom about my message to Evie, he had an amused smile on his face, but what was so funny about it - I don’t know and I didn’t ask.

Wow! He’s actually snoring! A good 90% of the time he sleeps in hotels, though, he doesn’t snore for some strange reason. I wish he’d be this quiet in the trailer. And in the house, too. Then only his talking and his movements could wake me up, but he doesn’t talk that much. Not as much as he moves.

I’d have loved to have called the black bitch to see if I could get a reaction, and therefore a confirmation, that she did receive my mail. However, I couldn’t remember her damn number, and she probably would’ve been out at the time, anyway.

As for Andy - he read it all. At least that’s what he said, so maybe God did answer my prayers about that. I express myself best on paper, and I really wanted Andy, the blacks, and the Mexicans to “hear me out,” so to speak. That goes for the losers back east, too. When I’ve got something to say, I want people to listen to me in my writing. I think that the reason I prefer getting my point across in writing is that I can then edit a sentence easier if I decide I don’t quite like the way I worded it the first time around, and so I don’t get interrupted. Out of all the people I’ve had a heart-to-heart with upon moving, Doe, Art, and Larry would be the least likely to be such captivated readers. This is why I bluffed them. Hope the curiosity got to them!

Anyway, I knew Andy would be home, and wanted to see if he’d mention my mail or not. As it figured, he was on the phone for ages, so I left several hang-up messages on his machine. Sometimes I’d breathe heavily for the hell of it.

When he finally answered, I was surprised, not surprised, and baffled by what he had to say. I wasn’t surprised that he was angry and bitter and “counter-attacking” me, so to speak. He and Tom are similar in that they either accuse you of exactly what you accuse them of, or they accuse you of something, whether or not you’re guilty of it, for accusing them of something.

I was surprised that there wasn’t any trace of sadness in his voice, but hey, I dumped him. I didn’t die.

I was sort of surprised he was willing to stay on the phone as long as he did like he would with Quinn when they were having problems. I used to tell Andy he should just hang up right away on people he has trouble with and not bother giving them a second of his time, no matter how bored he is. As Andy always said, he doesn’t give up on people easily. He’s too forgiving, not that he’d forgive me any more than I’d want to resume our friendship. I just hope I haven’t upset any of his other friendships. Meaning, I hope he’s not afraid to continue his friendship with Michelle out of the paranoia that she’ll dump him.

There were two different phone calls, but of course, I never said a word. Not surprisingly, he knew it was me and said “Mystery, Mystery. You’re so bored. Such a schizophrenic, crazy loser, so bored, so bored.”

Why does he think a prank phone caller has to be bored in order to make prank phone calls? That may’ve been his case, but not mine, although I can sure get bored waiting for this house to be ready.

Then he said “You’re a phony, a fake, pretending to be my friend, and I believed it. Surprised I’m not eating? Should I get a Twinkie and continue this discussion? Everything you detest, you are. Just look in the mirror at that fat ugly face and you’ll see.” Then he hung up.

Everything I detest, I am? I don’t get that one.

When I called right back after he hung up, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find him not answering the phone. He no doubt was seeing if he could get the number. Well, if he could, wait till he gets a hotel number, I thought. That ought to confuse him. He might now have had time to call here, though, in between my calls to him. He may not have found out where the calls came from till after our last chat.

In our last chat, he said, “If you have something to say, just say it. You wouldn’t be calling if you didn’t want to talk.”

Wrong. Very wrong, Andy. I wanted to hear you talk.

I grunted at one point, and he said, “Yeah, Jodi, I know it’s you, and you know I know it’s you, so let’s not play stupid games.”

He was getting frustrated on top of being angry by this time, then the confession came he said, “Well I obviously can’t be prank calling you now. I don’t even know your number. So if someone’s calling you now, don’t take it out on me.”

The ‘I obviously can’t be prank calling you now’ part totally confirmed my gut feeling that yes, it was him pranking us from time to time. Any innocent person would not have used that choice of words.

By this time I really was getting bored with him and hung up on him as he was saying, “What the fuck are you calling me for? You got what you want, you have no neighbors, you live alone, have no life…”

Live alone? I don’t think so! Have no life? He wishes! I have more of a life than ever before!

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1999
We’re now on our way to see our new house!

I slept really well and got caught up on my sleep last night. We extended for another couple of nights. Hopefully, God won’t let any rowdy kids be placed next to me, but I won’t count on it.

Later…

I really oughta write before I get too backed up. I’ll finish with yesterday first.

When we checked in on the 4th floor yesterday, I had us moved to the 2nd floor shortly afterward due to kids running around screaming in the halls, knocking on doors, and slamming doors.

You don’t know how much I hate kids! I am so sick of them interfering with my day-to-day living. I can’t dine in a restaurant in peace, I can’t shop in peace, and I can’t even get a room in peace some of the time. There’s just no end to my being forced to deal with kids! I try to tell myself - at least they’re not inside your house, but still, I’m sick and tired of kids. Not that I’d have gotten very far, but I backed out of having in vitro for a reason. That reason was that I didn’t want kids to be a part of my life. I’m sick of living with blacks, Mexicans, and kids and I resent God’s forcing them on me. A person who doesn’t want kids should have the right to live without them and I wish to hell they’d have their own areas for them. They separate smokers from non-smokers in restaurants, so why can’t they have a section for kids? People want smoke-free areas, but what about scream-free areas?

Anyway, the room we were moved to is tolerable, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get stuck with the same shit next to me today or tomorrow.

My only other complaint about this place is, well, I thought DO NOT DISTURB meant exactly that. Why did a woman have to knock on the door and wake poor Tom up to ask if we wanted our room done when I put the fucking sign out? Well, now I’ll know it doesn’t do me any good to put it out if they’re just gonna knock anyway.

Anyway, this room is different than most hotel rooms, and even has a microwave and a mini-refrigerator!

The main part of the room is square, rather than a rectangle, and rather than two double beds, we’ve got a king-size bed. We can deal with that since he’s at work while I’m asleep. It not only has a big bed but it’s also got a love seat with a bed in it that folds out. Instead of the usual round table and two chairs most hotels have, we have a desk-like, rectangular table with a nice office chair.

All the pictures in here are right-side up. One of the pictures upstairs was upside down. Was the person who put it up actually that stupid? Or was it done as a joke?

We stopped at a drive-through before coming here yesterday and I got a kid’s meal cuz the adult portions tend to be too much. An interesting toy came with it. A toy car with wheels you rev up, then you set the car down and watch it take off. Tom says he loved playing with those as a kid, but I don’t remember anything like it.

Later…

Still not done with yesterday. Yesterday we walked to a nearby restaurant that was not what I expected. It had a gift shop with lots of dolls. They had nice faces and clothes and weren’t ridiculously priced. JBS Dolls are better, though.

I got shrimp, catfish, and steak fries which were excellent.

We left just before 9:00 today and although we arrived at Palm Harbor’s factory 20 minutes early, we only had to wait 5 minutes for the manager to give us a tour.

The tour was great. There was only one thing Tom wasn’t too happy with and one thing I wasn’t too happy with.

Tom wasn’t thrilled that they were putting in a furnace when all we wanted was a heat pump. He said he didn’t mention it cuz he didn’t want to risk the house being delayed and cuz it wouldn’t add to our costs.

I wasn’t too thrilled with having a Mexican-made house. There wasn’t one white person in there but the manager, but if they do the job right, other than installing a furnace we didn’t ask for, I guess it’s all right. I certainly can’t call these Mexicans welfare bums. They were rude as usual, though, staring us down.

It was nice to see they had some women there, too.

The house was further along than we expected, and Tom felt better seeing its guts. It’s one thing to be told something and another to see it. The house has 6” thick walls instead of 4” and will be packed well with insulation. I can see how well it’d cut down sound, compared to the brick house we used to have. It’ll also help with cooling/heating.

The house had its floors, walls, and some of its electrical work and plumbing. No windows or roof yet, but the roof, which was suspended nearby, was about to be placed on it after its paint dried.

It sure made me feel filthy rich and spoiled rotten to see our custom-made house being built by a total of 180 people within its assembly lines! A house I chose and designed, that nobody else has ever lived in.

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Last updated June 23, 2024