October 6 News

I'm sorry to announce that I've been stricken with a COLD. Sore throat, coughing, phlegm, sudden intense aches throughout my body, exhaustion, headaches, and sadness. Actually, today I feel 100 times better than yesterday (possibly sleeping 12 hours last night was the magical solution!). I still have a very, very sore throat, coughing, and phlegm, but no aches. Yay!

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I haven't finished any more books and am now behind on my reading. I hope I'll catch up before October's over. I'm partway through several, so if I focus on finishing those, it shouldn't take too long to catch up.

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We've got 8 good-sized boxes of stuff to donate, plus an office chair and a microwave. I've got 3 boxes of books and videos to give to my family at Thanksgiving. Plus there are a few other things that I'm still working on talking myself into donating. I'll get there, but I'm not quite there yet.

In the house, we're still shuffling around the weird stuff, the papers, the knick knacks, the paddywacks, the art work and collectibles. I'm also trying to remove a wallpaper border which says, "USA Varsity Sports". Why would anyone make such a stupidly themed wallpaper border, and who in their right mind would buy it and glue it to the wall? It's taking hours and hours to remove it. I've tried getting it wet, wetting it with vinegar, and using a hair dryer to melt the glue. All seem equally effective. It still takes a lot of elbow grease. It seems that my cold is using up all my grease, so I'll have to return to that project a little later in the week.

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I'm getting my craft stuff all organized, so hopefully I'll have something new to show you before the month is over.

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It's October, and that means that it's time to watch scary movies! I love it. First will probably be Halloween. Oh, Jamie Lee Curtis with your white tights! Stabbing your brother in the neck with a knitting needle and poking him with a wire hanger. I'll never get tired of it.

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Sparky asked me if I miss Rattail yet, and the answer is YES. Although I must tell you some disappointing news about him: he trimmed the tail! He started wearing the rattail loose instead of in a braid, and cut off a few inches of length.

Oh, and the rumors told to me by another neighbor (whose dog pushed through the screen in the screen door this spring and now it flaps in the breeze, very classily) about the rattail family turned out to be false (at least partly).
1. I've been told that it is 4 kids that get you the most welfare, not 5 (so they had that extra one for nothing, if their goal was more income)
2. They were not being evicted, but were trying to buy a house and the deal fell through
3. The mom doesn't do nothing, but is going to some kind of nursing school

We ended up giving them our aquarium and my little trampoline, and we saw that their house is even smaller than ours was (narrower and more hallway-like). Their kitchen was a tiny little box, last redecorated in the '80s and filled floor to ceiling with dirty dishes. Their garage is packed to the gills with stuff, but they plan to clean it out and make a playroom for the older kids to use this winter.

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See you soon, hopefully with some book reports and photos of a room with no "USA Varsity Sports" wallpaper border.