Well…sitting here a little depressed by seeing the snow falling and not having a winter car yet, but I did get a bit of good news about the compact fridge I ordered yesterday…just got an e-mail from UPS saying it will be delivered tomorrow and not on Monday as it was originally estimated…and that is good news since I am getting pretty damn tired of having to go downstairs to get ice and food all the time…I’ve even given up on ice water just because of it….but that will end tomorrow and I am looking forward to it…but it is funny that most fridges in Europe are the size of the one I’m getting or just a little bigger and they live perfectly fine without having one that is big enough to hold a whole cow or a months worth of food…we’ll see how it works when it gets here….and that does it for the month….I don’t have to pay rent tomorrow for the first time in over 15 years!

Well…I am so damn tired of seeing 4:17 awake every morning and I think I’m going to take something for it tonight…and, I didn’t even take a nap yesterday afternoon…aaaargh…oh, well…don’t feel too bad this morning with only 5 hours of sleep and I did say that I wouldn’t bitch about it any more so that’s enough….really got tired of going up and down the stairs to get food for my meals so I bought a small fridge/freezer to put in the kitchen yesterday that should be here Monday…only 160 bucks and it looks like it’s big enough to keep a few days of food up in the kitchen…and I’ll have ice for ice water again and that will be cool….and it was 100 bucks off at Best Buy so that was cool….I did get out and run errands yesterday and hit 4 stores on Alpine…and didn’t really plan it at all like I used to for the Meijer’s run in the south end so I can go any time I want except the afternoon during rush hour…and that was one of the things I was concerned about moving over here…and none of the stores were busy so that was cool, too…I even found  a dollar tree right out by Aldi’s and got a bunch of stuff for 6 bucks yesterday…finally got some oven mits for a buck a piece and got to use them yesterday….oh, and my biggest bargain of the day came from a mistake I made at Meijers…I was looking for some socks to wear around here and found some black crew socks for only 7 bucks for 10 pairs …but when I got to the checkout, I noticed they were something called quarter socks but I bought them anyway….when I got back here and tried them on, they were just what I was looking for and didn’t even know it…higher than the footies that I have been wearing but about 4 inches lower than a normal crew sock…so I’m set for the winter….yep, little things like that make me happy…more later…

Well…I was really surprised today when the fence guys showed up and finished the fence in the rain…and one of the guys had 9 stitches in his thumb where he cut it with a saw here on Monday…it looks really good and I am quite happy with how it came out…and the final total was just a bit over 1800 bucks so I think that was a pretty good deal, too…one really cool thing that happened was the lead guy left me the material I need to build a  gate for the side of the house and that must be at least 150 bucks worth…they charge 300 bucks for a gate but I wanted to try my hand at building one and save some cash…so I really saved with getting the stuff free…so now, the last of the big projects are done and that feels good…I wonder if I can take a few days off now? I do need to send the final payment tomorrow but that will be the last of the big outlays…but, I do want to order a small fridge for the kitchen but that will have to wait until I get my next SS payment in November… I guess I could order it now since the card that I am going to use is not due until the 24th and the payment will be here by then…

Well…slept okay last night but still up early today but I don’t feel bad so I guess that’s something…still having problems getting motivated, though, so we’ll see how the day goes…been here for almost two weeks now and need to start getting my stuff put away…need to move a dresser into my bedroom so I can get some clothes out of the black garbage bags so I can use them and start getting the basement straightened up…and I still have the vestibule here in the living room that needs painting and the spare room needs to be repaired and painted, too so I do have work to do…need to find a winter car and that is going to be my focus for the next week since the weather looks like it is going to hell with some snow…at least there won’t be salt on the roads for a couple of weeks so that’s the deadline…I am going to run all my errands today since all of the stores I need to get to are on Alpine and it’s a little weird they are all on the same side of the street….but there are 4 of them and that may take some time…it looks like rain all day so I’m pretty sure the fence guys won’t be here so I can take off at 9 or so…found some smoked salmon in the freezer so I am going to get some bagels and cream cheese and treat myself a little….and I have a couple of venison steaks to have, too so at least I’ll have some good food….more later…

Well…as you know, I had scheduled a plumber to come and fix the faucets in the bathroom and clear out a drain clog in the bathroom sink since I could only run the water in it very slowly and it would back up after about 10 seconds…I’m glad I had these guys come since they found that the seats for the washers were cracked and notched and even if I could have gotten the stems out, they still wouldn’t have stopped the leaking and that would have irritated the heck out of me…so, I just guessed and called a place called Budget Plumbing and they came out and completely rebuilt the faucets, put new seats in, and cleared two drain clogs and it only cost 145 bucks…which I thought was quite reasonable…I was expecting about 300 bucks so to have everything done for less than half that was a pleasant surprise…so, less depressed now…

Well…running a little late today with my site being down when I got up but it seems to be okay now…slept okay last night but was up at 5:14 again but I guess it’s not 3:14 so that is a win…still feeling pretty depressed but better than yesterday so this may be  short one…at least until the plumber gets here and I find out how much it’s going to cost me…then I’ll probably just lie on the couch the rest of the day and feel bad…but, it has to be fixed and I can’t do it so it’s the only way…the fence didn’t get done yesterday since one of the guys working slashed his thumb with a saw and had to go to the hospital…and it’s raining today so it may not get done this week…but, that’s not depressing since there is progress being made and it looks good so far….I did get some stuff done around here yesterday but today looks like just waiting for the plumber and then maybe some work this afternoon…and maybe a bike ride if the rain will cooperate…I did get out for an errand in the mid afternoon and the traffic was not too bad so maybe getting places will be okay…but everything is on one road and I know the weekends are no go’s so I guess I’ll just do what I did out in the south end….more later…

Well…after a few days of feeling pretty damn depressed…with some reason, I might add…I think I’ve figured out part of it…I’m just not working hard enough on the house after moving in…was feeling kind of overwhelmed with all of the work that still needs to be done here and taking time off to rest and recharge was supposed to help that…but it worked the opposite….taking time off was a mistake that was making me even more tired and worn out because all I could do was think about everything that needs to be done and that was depressing the hell out of me…so today, kind of by accident, I got started on some of the projects that need to be done and that really did make me feel better…after fixing the utility sink faucets, and making an attempt on the faucets in the tub, I ran out to depot and got some weather stripping to put on the front door and that stopped the air leaks there, then I worked on the back door handle that was loose and got that fixed….then, I hit the attic and fixed the light up there, and started to clean up the debris from the roof job that covered the floor along with sweeping some…but that dust left me coughing and miserable so I am going to have to take something for it here real soon…but, even with that, I feel better now…oh, and I went out and bought a cool aluminum valve remover for the bike to take the one out the one that was plugged up and replaced it with another one so I can now put air in the rear tire again….it was all the way down to 40 psi and making it a little too much work to ride….

Well….old houses are sometimes a pain in the butt…and this one showed me this morning when the hot water valve in the tub stopped sealing this morning and I can’t figure out how to get it apart to replace the washers…the stem is just frozen into the housing so I had to call a plumber to have them fix it and I’m pretty sure that is going to cost about 300 bucks that I could have used to buy a new grill and lots of other stuff that I need…so, I sit here with water leaking into the tub until tomorrow morning…crap…one good thing is that I figured out how to take the utility sink valves apart this morning and got the cold water side working and got both of them to stop leaking when they are shut off…the screw that holds the washer on the cold side had come out and left the washer jammed in the seat so no water was getting through but that came out easily and I had parts in my toolbox so that was an easy fix…but it is still depressing news that I have to spend 300 bucks….I’m going to have them look at the drain in the bathroom sink, too since it runs really, really slow and makes all kinds of gurgling noises…now, if I can get that fixed along with the valves, 300 bucks is an okay deal…hope it’s the last thing I have to pay people to do…

Well…crap….haven’t had a bout of depression for quite a while now but it came back yesterday and continues today and I’m not sure why…everything is going okay with the house and the fence is going to be done in the next couple of days…well…that’s not true…the faucets in the tub are dripping and I can’t figure out how to get them apart and put new washers in them and that is going to mean paying a plumber a couple of hundred bucks to take them apart…and I really think that heating this place is going to be ridiculously expensive even with keeping it 66 in here….and I can’t find a winter car that I want and can afford….and I am just so damn tired….but, I now realize that the fatigue is part of the depression and it has been going on for a couple of weeks now….and I think part of it is the realization that my new situation is pretty temporary and in a few months I have to start the house search for one of my own and then go through the fixing process all over again…and I’m not sure if I have the capability to do that again….just getting damn old and I don’t like it…and I am just so damn tired….more later….

Well…slept all the way in til coffee o’clock this morning and I’m not sure why…didn’t do anything different leading up to going to bed last night but I was pretty darn tired after not sleeping for weeks so maybe that was it…I did get a bike ride in yesterday but it was in almost full thermasuit since it was only 44 degrees when I went out…and I laughed a little when I realized I could have been going out dressed a little warmly for a couple of weeks now and been comfortable instead of freezing my butt off…and it looks like today and tomorrow are going to be the last two days in shorts this year…I think the tradition of wearing shorts til Thanksgiving is going away this year since I am living in cool temps inside and that is taking something out of me…I’ve never liked being cold and still don’t so the jeans are coming out early this year…I do have to work on the car today since the parking brake is hanging up again and I need to oil the cable and linkages but I’m not sure what oil to use but I’ll figure that out later after it gets light…I am finally going to take a couple of days off working on the house over the next week or so…just worn out and need to get some recharge time in…but then I’ll get right back into it…I wonder if I’ll get much of my deposit back from the apartment after turning in the keys yesterday…if I do, I am going to treat it like found money and buy a few things that I want…a new grill, a soundbar, and an electric heater for the living room so I can cope with the winter cold…but, after living there for so long, I don’t think I’ll get a penny back…oh, well….more later….