#Black Rust Prevention Paint

[trywonderx]

Benefits of rust cleaner spray - Trywonderx

 Trywonderx is an eco-friendly rust cleaner spray that quickly and easily removes corrosion, rust, oxidation and grime from metal surfaces and helps to maintain the integrity of your precious items for a long period of time. Its powerful formula will save you money, energy and time while eliminating hard-to-remove rust stains on hard surfaces with minimal effort. Trywonderx will provide your surfaces with a new and clean finish that won’t degrade in harsh environments. you will save time and money while preventing your items from damage and corrosion due to rust buildup.

What are the benefits of using rust cleaner spray?

Here are some potential benefits of using a rust cleaner spray:

Restores Appearance: Rust can make metal surfaces look unsightly  can help restore the appearance of the metal by removing the rust.

Prevents Further Damage: Rust can weaken metal and cause further damage over time. By using a rust cleaner spray, you can prevent further damage and extend the lifespan of the metal.

Improves Performance: Rust can interfere with the performance of metal parts and machinery. By removing the rust with a rust cleaner spray, you can improve the performance of the metal and machinery.

Saves Time and Money: Rust can be difficult and time-consuming to remove manually, especially for larger or more intricate metal surfaces. Using a rust cleaner can save time and money by quickly and easily removing the rust.

Protects Against Rust: Some rust cleaners contain protective coatings that can help prevent future rust and corrosion, providing long-term protection for the metal surface.

Overall, using a rust cleaner can help restore the appearance, prevent further damage, improve performance, save time and money, and protect against future rust and corrosion.

Is Rust cleaner spray safe to use?

It depends on the specific Rust cleaner and its intended use. Rust cleaner typically contains chemicals that can be harmful if not used properly, so it's important to follow the instructions and safety precautions listed on the product label.

Some Rust cleaners are designed for use on metal surfaces and may not be safe to use on other materials. It's important to read the product label carefully to ensure that the spray is appropriate for the surface you're cleaning.

If you have any concerns about the safety of a specific Rust cleaner you should contact the manufacturer or consult with a professional before using it. Additionally, you should always wear gloves and protective eyewear when using any type of cleaning product to minimize the risk of exposure to harmful chemicals.

How do rust cleaner sprays work?

Many rust cleaners contain an acid, such as phosphoric acid, that reacts with the rust to break it down into a soluble form that can be easily wiped away. Other rust cleaners may contain solvents or surfactants that help to dissolve or loosen the rust, making it easier to remove.

When using a rust cleaner, it's important to follow the instructions carefully, and to wear protective gloves and eye protection, as the chemicals in the cleaner can be harmful if they come into contact with your skin or eyes. It's also important to use the cleaner in a well-ventilated area to avoid inhaling any fumes.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, trywonderx is an eco-friendly rust cleaner that quickly and easily removes corrosion, rust, oxidation and grime from metal surfaces. If you have a need for a quick and easy rust cleaning solution, trywonderx is the perfect choice!

Contact - info@trywonderx.com

Phone Number: 020 - 2606 1530Location: Suprabha Corporate House, 373, Somwar Peth, Pune - 411 001, India

[zelphin124]

Beyond The Bound Pages: Homer (1)

This is a new series I am writing about an isekai going into Homer's works. Featuring Saga: a gal who somehow has to survive in the Greek world on Odysseus ship. This will be fun. But first... we got to get there. Masterpost [Start] -> Chapter 2

~o0o~

The sweet smell of addicting, artificial strawberries filled the air, correlating with the dust of the paved road. The remnants of dust from graffiti spray paint lingered in the air, forcing a cough from those nearby. It smelled better than the taste it left in the air, and this particular paint stuck to the skin when sprayed. It didn’t help when it mixed with the humidity of the area. 

The woman holding the can took a step back on the two stairs she was standing on, looking at the edge of the wall. To her right, the stairs escalated to another dirt road above. A building arch overlaid most of the stairway. The walls were jagged and uneven on the sides, leading to perfect spots to leave a short message, which was her intention. Behind her was a caged door in a tan brick building, which one of her companions was trying to open. A cobbled pathway was carefully crafted and abandoned to her left, stretching in like a narrow balcony that overlooked the undertones of the abandoned city. The only thing preventing an immediate dropoff was a round, stone wall half a human’s size. It was uneven in its coverage and had breaks in its stretch when it met stairs leading down to the city's lower levels, but it could keep anyone from falling off accidentally. 

Random wires and pipes were strung up and across the buildings. It didn’t help that they had rusted over time from the prevalent rainfall. The sky was clear and bright, with only a few clouds to account for the mass water amid the air. The view from this specific road overlooked the rest of the city, showcasing its deep, interwoven roads and vertical levels. Whoever built the city was skilled in using the hills to their advantage, having crooked windows within the houses peek over the rest of the roofs. It wasn’t a largely abandoned town; one could see the desert hilltops on the edge of the city, showing off its cliffs and small, green bushes that were uncommon enough to be considered a rarity. There was a clear distinction in the various houses: who was rich and who was poor. The rich lived on the upper levels, and the poor lived on the bottom areas of the city, having laundry lines stretched out from roof to roof in the compacted area, versus the rich obtaining extra coverage and safety from potential break-ins. 

However, no one lived in the city anymore. It didn’t matter to the woman why everyone had left, it only mattered that it was a great place to send a message and collect forgotten loot.

Another woman sat on the round barrier near the cobbled road. She swung her feet back and forth, not paying attention to her untied shoelaces that wrapped around her ankles. Her dry, blonde hair was pinned back into a beanie. “Any luck, Zack?” She stuck her tongue out, tracing the dirt on her face. She was good at playing the act of a gang leader with the way she dressed. Her black leather jacket and brown shirt were torn and tattered, along with her ripped loose jeans. She wore bike gloves that did not go with her outfit well, but she always argued it was cool. Scars crossed her face and arms like she was attacked by a bear, but her story of how she got the scars changed every time someone asked her about it. 

The man behind the woman with the spray bottle turned around, adjusting his sunglasses. “I don’t think there’s going to be anything inside here, Isabella.” Zack dusted off his own gloves before he did the same to his white T-shirt. His curly brown hair always got in the way of his eyesight, forcing him to pin it up above his head. He was encouraged to get a haircut but insisted he wanted to create braids with his hair once it grew to the correct length. The hiking boots he wore were tight around his ankles, forcing him to make large steps with each foot movement. He had trouble walking anyway with how unnaturally tall he was. Long, baggy black pants hung from his waist covering his ankles. His voice was harsh and raspy as if he just inhaled the dust of a dirt road. “The people of Craco made sure to take their valuables.” 

Isabella leaned back on the balcony barrier, grunting with dissatisfaction, she was short, but that didn’t make her presence any more comforting. She had a motto of sticking together like a family, but her hypocrisy was exhibited through her actions. “Saga,” she turned to the woman with the spray paint. “You’ve been staring at that wall for too long. Make yourself useful!” 

The woman turned, her long, strawberry-blonde hair curled gently out of her large bun. It would fall to her knees if she let it loose. She was new to the gang, so her hair wasn’t as tattered and dry as the rest of them. It was silky and well-taken care of. Her hazel eyes reflected the setting sun, and she had yet to receive the tattoo on her left cheek of the gang’s symbol. If it were up to her, she would’ve worn a white blouse with a forest green skirt that stretched to her knees, but the uniform of the gang consisted of white and brown T-shirts with leather jackets, tattered work pants, and laced shoes. She was covered in dirt and spray paint, but couldn’t care enough to tidy herself up. Her chest was rather flat, and her body figure was rather square. She gave off tomboy vibes, and her fists were wrapped in bandages from the fights she got in. She cleared her voice, trying to sound tougher than she was. “I’d have to break up the message.” 

Isabella whipped her head around to the south, narrowing her eyes as she heard distant footsteps. “We need to hurry up and catch up with the others. The city is abandoned, but the police will look for people like us here.” Her feet slammed onto the cobblestone as she wiped her face. The scars wrinkled with her disgusted stare. “Zack, forget the door. We will get the loot some other time. Help Saga with the message.” 

“Bellosi mafia di Isabella o,” Zack dropped his tools and walked across the stairs. He leaned his hand on the wall close to where Saga was staring at, towering over her. He was at least a foot taller than her, but he didn’t carry himself with the confidence his height should have brought him. His breath was sour like rotten eggs as he spoke. “Need help spelling that, champ?” 

“No.” Saga turned to face him, not flinching out of his intimidation. She bit her tongue in an attempt to not smell his breath. “We aren’t a mafia. It’s not proper Italian.” 

“Doesn’t have to be,” Isabella kicked a rock down one of the stairpaths, chipping the stones of the road. “It’s a slogan, one that will establish us as a soon-to-be mafia. Remember, act the part until it becomes reality, right?”

Saga flattened her lips and nodded. 

“You don’t even know Italian, so it would be best if you kept your mouth shut and followed blindly,” the gang leader continued. “Write the phrase, then let’s ditch.” 

“You said we were family,” Saga argued. “Family should hear each other out.” 

A hoarse laugh echoed throughout the city as it fled from Zack’s lips. He bent over, resting his back on the wall as he wheezed. His eyes almost bulged out of his skull as if what Saga had said was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. 

Isabella did not have the same reaction. She took off her beanie and ran her hand through her hair. “I meant we were a family as in we would stick together,” she tilted her head sideways, chewing on something: weed, if Saga had to guess. “You have to trust me on this, I don’t have time to explain. We don’t ditch each other, but that doesn’t mean I take care of you to think, understood?” 

Saga grunted and shook the can in her hand with aggression. She double-checked its inky black color before writing the message on the wall. She sprayed it enough to release its stench in the air, forcing Zack to retreat from the wall as he snuffled a few coughs. 

He left Saga’s peripheral vision and rummaged through his duffle bag, clanging the tools together as if they were trash. Saga could tell he was clumsy with them because of the various scraping noises she heard, rather than the usual shuffling pitches. 

Saga heard a door unlatch behind her. “Really, Zack?” Isabella snapped. “Even Omar could’ve done a better job than this.” 

“I loosened it for you,” Zack argued. He cursed under his breath as he followed Isabella into the small room, grabbing a few nails and other supplies they could find in the forsaken metropolis of Italy. 

Saga made haste with painting the message on the wall, covering her face with her arm from the smell and smoke the spray paint let off. The cloud it produced stuck to her skin, and every few seconds she paused to itch the crusted dust off her body. The sun's rays only made the paint on her skin burn. She was expected to endure it, for as Isabella said: “The consequences of breaking the law would be much worse than simple burns on the skin.” 

Saga let out a disgruntled cough as she finished the graffiti, waving her hand in front of her face to get rid of the remaining dust. The humidity only got more intense the more the setting sun beat on Saga’s skin. She took a step back, careful to not trip on the uneven carved stones on the stairs. To her, the message made no sense, and it was hard to decipher. Telling herself repeatedly it was for a purpose she didn’t understand yet felt folly. Her gaze traversed to the gray door next to the wall she mutilated. It appeared slammed shut, but perhaps it had better loot hiding behind it. 

The gang had been searching for scraps all day, and their group in particular had collected nothing. The one sapphire necklace they did find was dropped by Zack through an unreachable crack in the sewage system. Saga wasn’t informed of what the gang was specifically seeking in these ruins, but she assumed it was the leftover valuables left by the former inhabitants. They wanted to claim their share of the treasure within the rubble before the government stole it from the people; at least, that was Zack’s explanation of the situation. 

The woman’s hands ruffled through Zack’s bag, pulling out a tool she knew not the name of. She observed the carvings and markings on it before the structure itself. It had a flat edge that could fit under a small opening and a stronger, round base to push an opposing force open like a lever. She watched Zack use it on a few other doors throughout the city, mostly accounting for his failure to open them. Despite being built like a giant, he seemed to have trouble with the nitty gritty tasks, which Isabella foolishly assigned him to. Omar advised them to switch roles, but Isabella refused to do the work herself. 

Fortunately, Saga had a way of being crafty and self-sufficient even before she joined the group. She carefully slid the flat part of the tool under the solid gray door, ignoring the murmuring of her compatriots behind the chained door. She spanned her gaze across the door hinges; it was the perfect design to lift the door and let it fall forward. Resting her foot and hands on the tool, she inhaled sharply before using precise force to press down. 

The door was promptly lifted off its hinges, its weight carrying itself to the floor. It slammed on the bricks, sending a rustled echo through the newly revealed room. The sound bounced across the walls and roads, causing Saga to wince as it slowly died out. 

The room itself had no light. There was a ladder to the right to get on top of the tiled roof. The house was small and square, with a hard floor and a table at the edge of its wall. There was one thing on the table: a book. 

Saga discarded the tool to the side before bending over to step into the cube. She searched the floor for anything to salvage but came out empty-handed. The door had landed on most of the floor; perhaps it squished whatever was left in the house. She straightened her back and stumbled over to the table. She first eyed the silver in the nails and started to peel them out. They could be smelted for cash. However, as she disassembled the table for its valuable components, her curiosity grew about the book on top of it. 

She paused her theft and stared at the book. Saga was not one to talk to herself in her own head and her thoughts were very few, just as Isabella had instructed her. However, her mind raced when she gave in to the temptation and picked up the book, blowing and wiping the dust off its cover. 

Homer, the title read. Iliad and Odyssey. It detailed it was a special edition with various events between the two books, and its size attested to the claim. The ridges of the book were ancient, and the spine presented the book’s contents dated back to well over two thousand years. 

Saga held the book in one hand, flipping it back and forth in her hands. She knew a studio that would pay good money for something old like it. Her face grimaced at the thought and memory that accompanied the studio. Her fists clenched. 

They were the reason she was here.

“What part about sticking together do you not understand?” Zack’s rustic voice filled her ears as the chained door slammed behind him. “That sound was too loud, it could’ve given away our position.” A rough grip tightened on Saga’s shoulder. 

Saga jumped back, snuffing a surprised scream. She readied her left fist into a punching position whilst her right held the book close to her chest. She grunted and sighed when her heart rate slowed down and her brain registered it was just Zack. Roughly, she forced his hand off of her shoulder. 

Zack hung his tongue out from his mouth like a dog. “Cat got your tongue, champ?” 

“She is a woman of few words, Zack.” Isabella came from behind Zack, shoving a large, marble tabletop into his chest. There was no sign of care from her as Zack barely caught the object and stumbled out of the room. She approached gracefully and shot a disapproving glare at Saga. “Or, you are now. Did you find anything?”

Saga adjusted her stance, leaning on her hip as she carelessly handed the old book to her leader, her eyes slanted and locked on the door now on the floor. Adjusting the bandages on her wrists, Saga took steps to leave the room.

She was stopped. “Nah, nah, nah,” Isabella stuck out her arm to block her path, not taking her eyes off the book. “You just found this here, lying around in the open?” 

Saga flattened her face and nodded, gesturing to the broken table. 

Isabella’s eyes shined like she was looking in her own reflection. A crooked smirk captured her lips. “Nice work, champ, this will make us a great buck. Perhaps this will pay for my–” 

“Our.” Saga’s words were harsh and curt. “I found it.” 

There was a pause as Isabella looked up to meet Saga’s gaze. She chuckled nervously. “Relax, champ,” her tone was gleeful and fibberful. “Of course it’s ours, the money goes to the family, no? The beautiful mafia of Isabella,” she tucked the book under her arm and gestured to the exit. “This will get us on the right track to that glorious vision.” 

Isabella had a whole lot of vision but little action to achieve it from Saga’s point of view. Usually, Saga would endure the blissful, nihilistic aura she emitted, but it was extra sour when put in the mix with Zack’s cocky stupidity. She once had that same mindset, but it was something that long escaped her. If she still had that outlook on life, she wouldn’t be trussing a to-be mafia gang. 

Saga scrambled out of the room and assisted Zack in picking up his tools, eyeing the sunset that besmeared the sky a glorious haze of orange and pink. Perhaps luck was on their side after all; they had gathered valuables all at the last minute. 

“I see why this was left behind,” Saga glanced to see Isabella speaking as she flipped through the pages of Homer. “Imagine reading this textbook, it’s one of those where you have to know background knowledge to understand it.” 

“Someone is insane enough to like it,” Zack hoisted the bag of tools and bag of stolen goods up both his shoulders. “It’ll sell just like the rest of these. I bet I’ll get a sweet gun out of this marbled top–” 

“We start small, remember to meet up on the outside of the city,” Isabella pointed to the hill in view. “You remember the path, Zack, right?” 

“Please, you think I would get lost in a simple maze like this?” Zack smirked wildly and turned south on the cobbled road. He stumbled before he caught himself, reminding himself to take big steps. “We head down.” 

Saga rested her back on the wall she graffitied, her feet pressing against the irregular curves in the steps. Her arms were crossed around her chest before she moved them to adjust her bun. She’d have to cut her hair soon as it was getting difficult to pin it up. 

The gang shuffled to make a move on before Zack stopped in the middle of the path, blocking Isabella’s way. “The hell are you–” 

“Mani in alto dove posso vederli.” 

Zack’s hands went up slowly, resting on his head as his shoulders drooped. Isabella also stopped in her tracks as she backed up, slowly making her way to Saga. 

“Ehi! Non muoverti, o spareremo! Sei in arresto!” 

“Merda,” Isabella hissed, turning to face Saga. “It’s the police.” 

Saga’s eyes widened. She put her hands up as Zack clumsily backed up the alleyway toward the stairs. Once he was out of the way, four policemen came into view. They had their guns drawn as they blocked the road exit. They muttered a few things in Italian that Saga couldn’t understand before gesturing to Zack to get on his knees and release the bags from his possession. 

Saga glanced at Isabella in the corner of her eye. She saw her leader’s eyes plotting, and it never ended well for anyone else when she did so. She bent over as if she was about to get on her knees as well, but her eyes steadily remained on the enforcer’s hands. 

Saga’s heart dropped, and she found it difficult to breathe. She stared at the cop approaching her, unsure what to do but to follow suit. Immediate regret overflowed in her heart; this wasn’t what she thought would happen.

THUNK!

Zack waited for the police to put his gun down and pull out his cuffs before socking him in the throat. He crushed the other gun in the second police’s hands before landing a punch across his face. He ditched his tool bag, grabbed the stolen goods duffle bag, and jumped off of the balcony into a nearby stairway, leading into the maze of the abandoned city below. 

The other cops turned their attention to the noise, giving enough time for Isabella to shove the book into Saga’s hands before taking off up the stairs. She hid behind the wall as one of the cops shot at her, causing a few of the old stones to fall off the arch. It wouldn’t be long before the building collapsed, blocking the path. 

A split second passed as Saga processed her comrades, who were ditching her. It was followed by another awkward second of eye contact with the four police, eyeing the book in her hand. Instinct grabbed her by the throat and forced her into action. She flung her fists into the closest cop’s stomach, shoving him into the balcony barrier before dashing north down the cobbled road. Her heart raced as she ran for her life, diving behind another wall as shots were fired. 

“Torna qui!” The police hollered, two of them pursuing Saga as they fired more rounds of their revolvers in her direction. They sprinted after her on foot, following the cobbled path. 

Saga bolted from behind the wall and further down the path, the rugged walls and landscape of the city blurring as she focused on her exit. Long shadows were cast by the setting sun, showing the city’s weathering facades. It would be difficult to find sturdy things to climb on with the city in its rusted, crumbling state. She shoved the book down her shirt, hoping it would stay as she used her arms to run. She figured the cobbled path would end soon, forcing her to use an alternate route of escape. 

By the time the police also reached the end of the path, they had run out of bullets. They searched around frantically before spotting their target climbing up the pipes and uneven walls. One of them admitted he was too fat to climb after before resulting in chopping at the pipe. The other proceeded to climb up after Saga, slowly gaining on her. 

Saga felt the pipe become more unstable by the minute. Her heart raced as adrenaline kicked in. She spanned her gaze around the area frantically, spotting a roof close by. She grabbed the edge of the window above her before jumping to the tiled roof, breaking into a run once more. 

The other police were not far behind her. He shouted at her as he gained on her, jumping from roof to roof as she followed. His steps were a lot more clangorous than Saga’s, provoking the ruins to collapse after he flew across them. Wherever Saga slid and crumpled tiles under her feet, the police crushed with his, leaving nothing but dust. 

Under different circumstances, Saga would’ve sat to enjoy the sunset from the height she was at, taking in the beautiful scenery of the abandoned city. Saga used her ears to try and see if her comrades were nearby, but there were no signs of them anywhere. She jumped from roof to roof, occasionally attempting her luck at bouncing off different walls, hoping to get an advantage on her pursuers. She dared fate and looked behind her. 

One of the cops was following their path on the ground, panting heavily as he took turns down alleyways and ran up and down various stairs. The leaner cop was right on her tail, catching up with great speed as if he had experience running across rooftops. 

The cop on the roof was close enough to grab her jacket. He reached for her, stumbling over his feet as he lunged for her. Saga had little time to think as she dodged his grasp, sliding down another tiled roof before leaping to another. 

She fell short. Saga gripped onto the edge of the tower, spotting a rusted bell at the top of the observatory. Her hands ached with pain as they dug into the sandstone. She moved her hands up quickly, grabbed onto the ledge, and barely managed to pull herself onto the floor below the bell. She gasped for breath, coughing out the dust that entered her lungs. 

The police stopped on the previous roof, looking up at the tower. His eyes were wide as if he was astonished she made it. He muttered something into his communication device, a phrase in Italian Saga couldn’t understand. 

Saga stood, pain ceasing everything in her body. She crumpled on her hip before straightening her back again, flipping off the cop with both fingers as she caught her breath. Her bun was undone, which let her long hair fall to her sides beautifully. 

The sight of the sunset gleaming on Saga standing in the tower with her long hair out and two middle fingers up didn’t last long. There was an eerie creak before a loud crack. Saga felt the floor give way, sending her down the tower. She let out a pitiful scream, crashing into the ladder and stairs, tumbling over and over again as everything scratched and bruised her face. Her attempts at grabbing onto anything were futile, and it wasn’t long until she hit the base of the tower at the lowest level. Hitting her head, everything went black.

[craboon]

the redjam sea or sea of sweetness, is full of toxic algae and metals that sting your nose and mouth with and obscene sweetness, animals pour from the fields in great migrations to feast and die at its shores, leaving sticky trails of red strewn across the shores, most commonly large reddish house centipedes and rust covered snails that crawl from the crevices of the northern shore, the numerous bugs are harvested as food or for their shells the water when cooked down can be used as a tar and sealant and most famously a red paint, some people also eat it as a delicacy risking their health int he process

the sea of milk is a place of still opaque white fluid, primordial ancient things linger there, softly padding in the waves where most seas have a vermin clinging to the shores these ones lurk in the deep unseen, things very old live there long ago the goddess of the earwigs beckoned them from the pale waters and set them to fly to the moon and return only when they became wise

there is not a whole lot of industry around this sea the animals and crafty and things get eaten and gnawed upon when the earwigs emerge at night, there however are more farming settlements farther into the golden lands where the endless grain sates the appetite of the earwigs before they can reach

there are many monasteries and such things built in the seclusion they have found it difficult to keep records without using materials that the earwigs detest the red pigment from the sea of sweetness works well

the cadaverine seas waters are chilled and smell of rot there are numerous mass dyings and blobster like things washed upon the shores, the water is somewhat corrosive and one must were a waxed suit to safely wade, the waters are not filled with much except barnacles, molluscs, brachiopods,and echnoderms fished commonly in row boats with thick coating to prevent the encrusting of life on them, the corpses of the the waxy beasts are harvested and distilled into medicines healing salves and sedatives that have the side effect of giving dreams of one being trapped in mud at the bottom of the sea, in ancient times people built great sarcophagi to store the bodies of the giant waxy whale fish things, and referred them as saints, the fluid of the tombs is a legendary medicine

the gloaming sea is covered in churning pewter waves, cast in never ending twilight there is a great black engine built on the cliffs chains as light as spider silk are cast into the air like a net and as the sun sets apparitions sparks of angels burn into being for an instant before becoming entangled the great engine starts up and reels them in as night falls not sure what they do with them make lightbulbs idk the engine is powered both my the lapping waves agains the great steel wheels but also a material unique to this are called verminstone, its quarried nearby and shipped on rails, it resembles ancient sea fossils, byrozoans, coral, diatoms, sponges porus and once alive, it works when you dont look a rattling in a dark box so they are poured into the engine like coal great rattling and cacophony, worms that creeped so long ago led ghostly in great procession turning the heavy gears

[foodandfolklore]

Kitchen Witch Essentials

I want to preference this by saying your priorities of tools for your craft will vary as you get more experienced. If you get more into baking, you may choose to invest in a kitchen mixer. If your path goes more down drinks, you might want to get a French press. This list is for those starting out or looking to maintain general witchy cooking. Nothing on this list is mandatory, so don't feel like you need to go spend money just because it's on this list.

This list will also assume you have general kitchen stuff, like pots, pans, and knives. You may not have everything, but you have enough to cook.

Wooden Spoon

If for whatever reason you don't have a wooden spoon, and you want to do kitchen magic, I strongly recommend you go and get one. You can get them at any store that sells Kitchen Utensils, including the dollar store.

For some kitchen witches, the wooden spoon is like a magic wand. Allowing the witch to direct energy. Personally, I just enjoy using natural materials whenever I can. Also, it's just such a useful tool to have when cooking. You can stir your food on stove top, and since it's made of wood you don't need to worry about damaging non stick surfaces. If you're boiling pasta, stirring with a wooden spoon helps get rid of the foam overboil. You can also just leave the spoon over the pot to prevent pasta water overboiling. Baking bread? Flip the spoon around and use the handle to bring the dough together.

Some people choose to add sigils or other symbols onto their witchy spoons. If you decide to do this, please do not use paint or stain, as this can come off while cooking. Unless this will be a display only spoon, of course. Safest way is to laser burn a design. Check etsy for custom spoons.

Herbs/Spices you know the properties of

I'm sure you already have some non perishable Herbs or Spices in your pantry or spice rack. Black Pepper, Garlic powder, Cinnamon, Paprika, that kind of thing. I want you to pick one and deep dive into the history of that Herb/Spice. What it's been used for in the past, what are some common magical properties and associations; what do YOU associate with it. Write down the magical association, like protection, banish negativity, prosperity, ect. Start with one, work your way up to three. If you have trouble memorizing, keep a little cheat sheet near by.

Now when you add these seasonings, you know what energies you can add/attract with your food.

Mortar and Pestle

If you already have another way to grind spices, like a coffee grinder, this does not need to be a priority. And if you have arm or shoulder issues, I don't recommend using. The main benefit to using a mortar and pestle is the crushing style of grinding tends to release more aroma and flavor then the cutting style of a coffee grinder. If you plan to just use for dry spices, you won't need a very big or fancy one. 20 dollars should get you something small and solid.

Make sure you are getting one made of stone. I tried a wooden one and it's garbage. I use it to hold messy spoons. There are also metal ones, and while I've never tried one, I encourage caution. I worry about long term use stripping whatever coating is stopping it from rusting.

Jars

Glass Jars are so great to have in the kitchen. Leftover sauce? Put it in a jar. Suddenly made a jam? We got jars to put it in. Meal prep overnight oats? Jars are here for you! They're just great for storage. And you don't need to buy them. Lots of things come in jars; just give them a hot soapy soak, scrap the label off, wash and reuse. If you prefer mason jars, I recommend washing the lids by hand. The lids aren't meant to be reused for jarring, so they rust fairly quickly after a few washes. You can buy replacement lids, however.

Plastic Containers

Jars are great, but things get a little dicey when you want to put stuff in the freezer. Water likes to make sure everyone knows it's cold by puffing up bigger; like look at me, I'm freezing here! Which means, there's a chance your glass jar can shatter.

But freezing food is the best way to preserve food since you don't need to add anything like extra salt or sugar. So get some freezer safe containers. I love making batches of broth and stock, and freeze it for later. Or if we have a lot of leftovers, I'll freeze enough for a dinner another week, incase I don't have enough spoons to make dinner one evening. And don't worry, you can wash and reuse plastic containers too.

I'll also freeze food I notice is starting to go weird. If I buy a huge bag of baby spinach, but can't get through it all, I'll transfer it to a freezer bag. Adding frozen spinach to food as it cooks is one of the easiest ways to up your nutrients. You can also freeze other vegetables, just make sure you cut them up first.

Crock Pot/Slow Cooker

Every Witch Needs a Cauldron, and these are Electric Cauldrons. Prices vary mainly based on the size you want. There are different brands, different colors; you can even get some in the theme of your favorite fandom. But they all have the same 3 core settings: High, Low, and keep warm.

Slow cookers are....well, slow. Which is great for certain kinds of food that need to sit for a long time, like meats. But it's also great for Kitchen Witches with a lot going on. Non witches will "Set it and forget it" but it's a good idea to stir every once in a while. Which is where the magic comes in. So, if you're a scatter brained Witch, Like me, or have ADHD and have trouble focusing, an electric cauldron might be for you. Throw everything together in 15 minutes, then give it love and attention when you remember. Normally that happens when you start to smell the food.

Again, this is my preference. Some Kitchen Witches I know prefer to identify a specific pot as their cauldron. Some went and got an actual full size, cast iron cauldron; which is amazing but not feasible for most. I grew up using a slow cooker, so I'm very comfortable around one. But if it's not your thing; that's fine. Maybe your cauldron will be a rice cooker or a Boston Shaker.

[lesmislettersdaily]

One Mother Meets Another Mother

Volume 1: Fantine; Book 4: To Confide Is Sometimes To Deliver Into A Person's Power; Chapter 1: One Mother Meets Another Mother

There was, at Montfermeil, near Paris, during the first quarter of this century, a sort of cook-shop which no longer exists. This cook-shop was kept by some people named Thénardier, husband and wife. It was situated in Boulanger Lane. Over the door there was a board nailed flat against the wall. Upon this board was painted something which resembled a man carrying another man on his back, the latter wearing the big gilt epaulettes of a general, with large silver stars; red spots represented blood; the rest of the picture consisted of smoke, and probably represented a battle. Below ran this inscription: AT THE SIGN OF SERGEANT OF WATERLOO (Au Sargent de Waterloo).

Nothing is more common than a cart or a truck at the door of a hostelry. Nevertheless, the vehicle, or, to speak more accurately, the fragment of a vehicle, which encumbered the street in front of the cook-shop of the Sergeant of Waterloo, one evening in the spring of 1818, would certainly have attracted, by its mass, the attention of any painter who had passed that way.

It was the fore-carriage of one of those trucks which are used in wooded tracts of country, and which serve to transport thick planks and the trunks of trees. This fore-carriage was composed of a massive iron axle-tree with a pivot, into which was fitted a heavy shaft, and which was supported by two huge wheels. The whole thing was compact, overwhelming, and misshapen. It seemed like the gun-carriage of an enormous cannon. The ruts of the road had bestowed on the wheels, the fellies, the hub, the axle, and the shaft, a layer of mud, a hideous yellowish daubing hue, tolerably like that with which people are fond of ornamenting cathedrals. The wood was disappearing under mud, and the iron beneath rust. Under the axle-tree hung, like drapery, a huge chain, worthy of some Goliath of a convict. This chain suggested, not the beams, which it was its office to transport, but the mastodons and mammoths which it might have served to harness; it had the air of the galleys, but of cyclopean and superhuman galleys, and it seemed to have been detached from some monster. Homer would have bound Polyphemus with it, and Shakespeare, Caliban.

Why was that fore-carriage of a truck in that place in the street? In the first place, to encumber the street; next, in order that it might finish the process of rusting. There is a throng of institutions in the old social order, which one comes across in this fashion as one walks about outdoors, and which have no other reasons for existence than the above.

The centre of the chain swung very near the ground in the middle, and in the loop, as in the rope of a swing, there were seated and grouped, on that particular evening, in exquisite interlacement, two little girls; one about two years and a half old, the other, eighteen months; the younger in the arms of the other. A handkerchief, cleverly knotted about them, prevented their falling out. A mother had caught sight of that frightful chain, and had said, “Come! there’s a plaything for my children.”

The two children, who were dressed prettily and with some elegance, were radiant with pleasure; one would have said that they were two roses amid old iron; their eyes were a triumph; their fresh cheeks were full of laughter. One had chestnut hair; the other, brown. Their innocent faces were two delighted surprises; a blossoming shrub which grew near wafted to the passers-by perfumes which seemed to emanate from them; the child of eighteen months displayed her pretty little bare stomach with the chaste indecency of childhood. Above and around these two delicate heads, all made of happiness and steeped in light, the gigantic fore-carriage, black with rust, almost terrible, all entangled in curves and wild angles, rose in a vault, like the entrance of a cavern. A few paces apart, crouching down upon the threshold of the hostelry, the mother, not a very prepossessing woman, by the way, though touching at that moment, was swinging the two children by means of a long cord, watching them carefully, for fear of accidents, with that animal and celestial expression which is peculiar to maternity. At every backward and forward swing the hideous links emitted a strident sound, which resembled a cry of rage; the little girls were in ecstasies; the setting sun mingled in this joy, and nothing could be more charming than this caprice of chance which had made of a chain of Titans the swing of cherubim.

As she rocked her little ones, the mother hummed in a discordant voice a romance then celebrated:—

“It must be, said a warrior.”

Her song, and the contemplation of her daughters, prevented her hearing and seeing what was going on in the street.

In the meantime, some one had approached her, as she was beginning the first couplet of the romance, and suddenly she heard a voice saying very near her ear:—

“You have two beautiful children there, Madame.”

“To the fair and tender Imogene—”

replied the mother, continuing her romance; then she turned her head.

A woman stood before her, a few paces distant. This woman also had a child, which she carried in her arms.

She was carrying, in addition, a large carpet-bag, which seemed very heavy.

This woman’s child was one of the most divine creatures that it is possible to behold. It was a girl, two or three years of age. She could have entered into competition with the two other little ones, so far as the coquetry of her dress was concerned; she wore a cap of fine linen, ribbons on her bodice, and Valenciennes lace on her cap. The folds of her skirt were raised so as to permit a view of her white, firm, and dimpled leg. She was admirably rosy and healthy. The little beauty inspired a desire to take a bite from the apples of her cheeks. Of her eyes nothing could be known, except that they must be very large, and that they had magnificent lashes. She was asleep.

She slept with that slumber of absolute confidence peculiar to her age. The arms of mothers are made of tenderness; in them children sleep profoundly.

As for the mother, her appearance was sad and poverty-stricken. She was dressed like a working-woman who is inclined to turn into a peasant again. She was young. Was she handsome? Perhaps; but in that attire it was not apparent. Her hair, a golden lock of which had escaped, seemed very thick, but was severely concealed beneath an ugly, tight, close, nun-like cap, tied under the chin. A smile displays beautiful teeth when one has them; but she did not smile. Her eyes did not seem to have been dry for a very long time. She was pale; she had a very weary and rather sickly appearance. She gazed upon her daughter asleep in her arms with the air peculiar to a mother who has nursed her own child. A large blue handkerchief, such as the Invalides use, was folded into a fichu, and concealed her figure clumsily. Her hands were sunburnt and all dotted with freckles, her forefinger was hardened and lacerated with the needle; she wore a cloak of coarse brown woollen stuff, a linen gown, and coarse shoes. It was Fantine.

It was Fantine, but difficult to recognize. Nevertheless, on scrutinizing her attentively, it was evident that she still retained her beauty. A melancholy fold, which resembled the beginning of irony, wrinkled her right cheek. As for her toilette, that aerial toilette of muslin and ribbons, which seemed made of mirth, of folly, and of music, full of bells, and perfumed with lilacs had vanished like that beautiful and dazzling hoar-frost which is mistaken for diamonds in the sunlight; it melts and leaves the branch quite black.

Ten months had elapsed since the “pretty farce.”

What had taken place during those ten months? It can be divined.

After abandonment, straightened circumstances. Fantine had immediately lost sight of Favourite, Zéphine and Dahlia; the bond once broken on the side of the men, it was loosed between the women; they would have been greatly astonished had any one told them a fortnight later, that they had been friends; there no longer existed any reason for such a thing. Fantine had remained alone. The father of her child gone,—alas! such ruptures are irrevocable,—she found herself absolutely isolated, minus the habit of work and plus the taste for pleasure. Drawn away by her liaison with Tholomyès to disdain the pretty trade which she knew, she had neglected to keep her market open; it was now closed to her. She had no resource. Fantine barely knew how to read, and did not know how to write; in her childhood she had only been taught to sign her name; she had a public letter-writer indite an epistle to Tholomyès, then a second, then a third. Tholomyès replied to none of them. Fantine heard the gossips say, as they looked at her child: “Who takes those children seriously! One only shrugs one’s shoulders over such children!” Then she thought of Tholomyès, who had shrugged his shoulders over his child, and who did not take that innocent being seriously; and her heart grew gloomy toward that man. But what was she to do?

She no longer knew to whom to apply. She had committed a fault, but the foundation of her nature, as will be remembered, was modesty and virtue. She was vaguely conscious that she was on the verge of falling into distress, and of gliding into a worse state. Courage was necessary; she possessed it, and held herself firm. The idea of returning to her native town of M. sur M. occurred to her. There, some one might possibly know her and give her work; yes, but it would be necessary to conceal her fault. In a confused way she perceived the necessity of a separation which would be more painful than the first one. Her heart contracted, but she took her resolution. Fantine, as we shall see, had the fierce bravery of life. She had already valiantly renounced finery, had dressed herself in linen, and had put all her silks, all her ornaments, all her ribbons, and all her laces on her daughter, the only vanity which was left to her, and a holy one it was. She sold all that she had, which produced for her two hundred francs; her little debts paid, she had only about eighty francs left. At the age of twenty-two, on a beautiful spring morning, she quitted Paris, bearing her child on her back. Any one who had seen these two pass would have had pity on them. This woman had, in all the world, nothing but her child, and the child had, in all the world, no one but this woman. Fantine had nursed her child, and this had tired her chest, and she coughed a little.

We shall have no further occasion to speak of M. Félix Tholomyès. Let us confine ourselves to saying, that, twenty years later, under King Louis Philippe, he was a great provincial lawyer, wealthy and influential, a wise elector, and a very severe juryman; he was still a man of pleasure.

Towards the middle of the day, after having, from time to time, for the sake of resting herself, travelled, for three or four sous a league, in what was then known as the Petites Voitures des Environs de Paris, the “little suburban coach service,” Fantine found herself at Montfermeil, in the alley Boulanger.

As she passed the Thénardier hostelry, the two little girls, blissful in the monster swing, had dazzled her in a manner, and she had halted in front of that vision of joy.

Charms exist. These two little girls were a charm to this mother.

She gazed at them in much emotion. The presence of angels is an announcement of Paradise. She thought that, above this inn, she beheld the mysterious HERE of Providence. These two little creatures were evidently happy. She gazed at them, she admired them, in such emotion that at the moment when their mother was recovering her breath between two couplets of her song, she could not refrain from addressing to her the remark which we have just read:—

“You have two pretty children, Madame.”

The most ferocious creatures are disarmed by caresses bestowed on their young.

The mother raised her head and thanked her, and bade the wayfarer sit down on the bench at the door, she herself being seated on the threshold. The two women began to chat.

“My name is Madame Thénardier,” said the mother of the two little girls. “We keep this inn.”

Then, her mind still running on her romance, she resumed humming between her teeth:—

“It must be so; I am a knight,

And I am off to Palestine.”

This Madame Thénardier was a sandy-complexioned woman, thin and angular—the type of the soldier’s wife in all its unpleasantness; and what was odd, with a languishing air, which she owed to her perusal of romances. She was a simpering, but masculine creature. Old romances produce that effect when rubbed against the imagination of cook-shop woman. She was still young; she was barely thirty. If this crouching woman had stood upright, her lofty stature and her frame of a perambulating colossus suitable for fairs, might have frightened the traveller at the outset, troubled her confidence, and disturbed what caused what we have to relate to vanish. A person who is seated instead of standing erect—destinies hang upon such a thing as that.

The traveller told her story, with slight modifications.

That she was a working-woman; that her husband was dead; that her work in Paris had failed her, and that she was on her way to seek it elsewhere, in her own native parts; that she had left Paris that morning on foot; that, as she was carrying her child, and felt fatigued, she had got into the Villemomble coach when she met it; that from Villemomble she had come to Montfermeil on foot; that the little one had walked a little, but not much, because she was so young, and that she had been obliged to take her up, and the jewel had fallen asleep.

At this word she bestowed on her daughter a passionate kiss, which woke her. The child opened her eyes, great blue eyes like her mother’s, and looked at—what? Nothing; with that serious and sometimes severe air of little children, which is a mystery of their luminous innocence in the presence of our twilight of virtue. One would say that they feel themselves to be angels, and that they know us to be men. Then the child began to laugh; and although the mother held fast to her, she slipped to the ground with the unconquerable energy of a little being which wished to run. All at once she caught sight of the two others in the swing, stopped short, and put out her tongue, in sign of admiration.

Mother Thénardier released her daughters, made them descend from the swing, and said:—

“Now amuse yourselves, all three of you.”

Children become acquainted quickly at that age, and at the expiration of a minute the little Thénardiers were playing with the newcomer at making holes in the ground, which was an immense pleasure.

The newcomer was very gay; the goodness of the mother is written in the gayety of the child; she had seized a scrap of wood which served her for a shovel, and energetically dug a cavity big enough for a fly. The grave-digger’s business becomes a subject for laughter when performed by a child.

The two women pursued their chat.

“What is your little one’s name?”

“Cosette.”

For Cosette, read Euphrasie. The child’s name was Euphrasie. But out of Euphrasie the mother had made Cosette by that sweet and graceful instinct of mothers and of the populace which changes Josepha into Pepita, and Françoise into Sillette. It is a sort of derivative which disarranges and disconcerts the whole science of etymologists. We have known a grandmother who succeeded in turning Theodore into Gnon.

“How old is she?”

“She is going on three.”

“That is the age of my eldest.”

In the meantime, the three little girls were grouped in an attitude of profound anxiety and blissfulness; an event had happened; a big worm had emerged from the ground, and they were afraid; and they were in ecstasies over it.

Their radiant brows touched each other; one would have said that there were three heads in one aureole.

“How easily children get acquainted at once!” exclaimed Mother Thénardier; “one would swear that they were three sisters!”

This remark was probably the spark which the other mother had been waiting for. She seized the Thénardier’s hand, looked at her fixedly, and said:—

“Will you keep my child for me?”

The Thénardier made one of those movements of surprise which signify neither assent nor refusal.

Cosette’s mother continued:—

“You see, I cannot take my daughter to the country. My work will not permit it. With a child one can find no situation. People are ridiculous in the country. It was the good God who caused me to pass your inn. When I caught sight of your little ones, so pretty, so clean, and so happy, it overwhelmed me. I said: ‘Here is a good mother. That is just the thing; that will make three sisters.’ And then, it will not be long before I return. Will you keep my child for me?”

“I must see about it,” replied the Thénardier.

“I will give you six francs a month.”

Here a man’s voice called from the depths of the cook-shop:—

“Not for less than seven francs. And six months paid in advance.”

“Six times seven makes forty-two,” said the Thénardier.

“I will give it,” said the mother.

“And fifteen francs in addition for preliminary expenses,” added the man’s voice.

“Total, fifty-seven francs,” said Madame Thénardier. And she hummed vaguely, with these figures:—

“It must be, said a warrior.”

“I will pay it,” said the mother. “I have eighty francs. I shall have enough left to reach the country, by travelling on foot. I shall earn money there, and as soon as I have a little I will return for my darling.”

The man’s voice resumed:—

“The little one has an outfit?”

“That is my husband,” said the Thénardier.

“Of course she has an outfit, the poor treasure.—I understood perfectly that it was your husband.—And a beautiful outfit, too! a senseless outfit, everything by the dozen, and silk gowns like a lady. It is here, in my carpet-bag.”

“You must hand it over,” struck in the man’s voice again.

“Of course I shall give it to you,” said the mother. “It would be very queer if I were to leave my daughter quite naked!”

The master’s face appeared.

“That’s good,” said he.

The bargain was concluded. The mother passed the night at the inn, gave up her money and left her child, fastened her carpet-bag once more, now reduced in volume by the removal of the outfit, and light henceforth and set out on the following morning, intending to return soon. People arrange such departures tranquilly; but they are despairs!

A neighbor of the Thénardiers met this mother as she was setting out, and came back with the remark:—

“I have just seen a woman crying in the street so that it was enough to rend your heart.”

When Cosette’s mother had taken her departure, the man said to the woman:—

“That will serve to pay my note for one hundred and ten francs which falls due to-morrow; I lacked fifty francs. Do you know that I should have had a bailiff and a protest after me? You played the mouse-trap nicely with your young ones.”

“Without suspecting it,” said the woman.

[atplblog]

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[jodilin65]

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2005 Hit my biggest win yet and my first premium sweep! The contest ended at midnight last night and I got the notice at 6:30 this morning. My name must’ve been drawn just minutes before the notice was sent. I won a 30th Anniversary Collection EC-2005 electric guitar with anniversary logo inlay and black satin finish valued at $630! I was the only winner of this prize and it was a 2½-star daily sweep. We’re going to sell it on eBay. We were thinking February would be a good time. In January too many people are broke after buying Christmas presents, so that’s why we think that would be a good time.

We’re ordering the bed and an office chair for me on Friday. Then next Friday we’ll order the headboard/shelves and platform. At some point, I’ll order a comforter online, too. I like the shimmery satin ones.

I’ve decided that once all this is bought, I’ll take a third of my monthly spending money and put it towards a trip to a department store around here. We’ll probably take the bus there. We need things like new towels and silverware. I also need a bigger hard drive and some new clothes.

The handyman is here now refinishing the back porch to help prevent the pipes from freezing. He stopped by two days ago to let us know he’d be doing this. He hasn’t knocked on the door today which is good. I don’t want him to come in here far enough to see Blondie. It almost sounds like I’m back in the duplex with the way he’s bopping around back there. It’s so nice to know I’m not, though! I hope he’s not at it for too long. I don’t see why he would be. The porch is small. He’s actually putting down this ugly, rust-colored outdoor carpet, but it’ll look nicer than the peeling paint underneath it that’s also in front. I don’t think there are pipes running under the front patio, though, so I doubt he’ll do that one, too.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2005 Exactly 5 years ago today I was in a semi-drunken sleep, never knowing that in just a few hours I’d wake up, leave the house and not return for half a year. How different my life is today than it was then! If I’d known I’d be in Oregon less than 5 years from that day, I’d have assumed it was because we were forced to run, but who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t lost the house? Maybe we would’ve been. Those sickos that so cruelly and hatefully tormented us and ran our lives for so long weren’t the type to give up and let go. Take a break, but never let go.

Life is certainly much better today, but not perfect. My ear is getting worse, if it really is my ear that’s the problem. The extra oil doesn’t seem to be helping at all, but you know what? I’m sick of this. Just totally sick of it! Sometimes the best way to deal with a problem is not to deal with it at all and I’m just about ready to do just that. I’ll just do what I can to make myself more comfortable, but I’m not going to bother seeing a doctor about it. Tom said it won’t kill us to rent a car if we have to go either up to Portland or down to Sacramento to find a doctor who can deal with this (an otologist), but why bother? There’ll only be something else afterward. All my life I’ve had one medical problem after another, so why treat this just to move on to something else?

I had a dream two nights ago that I was to die in July. Then it became 2-3 years. Then I was asking Tom if he thought I’d be alive when I was 45 and he said, “I don’t know,” in a semi-doubtful yet hopeful voice. Just maybe I will get an early exit from this life after all. Wasn’t it something I’ve wanted so many times anyway? Sometimes I wonder if an early departure might not be such a bad idea. Do I really want to live to get old and arthritic, then lose my husband who’s older than me just to have no one to take care of me when my time comes? Do I really want to live if most of my life is still destined to be filled with poverty, stress and sorrow? For all I know, this thing just may turn deadly for real if left untreated. Maybe it’s a massive infection or a tumor. I just don’t know what the hell it is. I trust fate to do what’s best and I believe that whatever’s meant to be will be no matter what, so I think I’ll just leave it alone, and if it’s something that kills me, then it kills me. Somehow, though, I doubt this is anything that will one day go away on its own whether it kills me or not, so maybe since praying for help was useless, I oughta pray for it to kill me as quickly and as painlessly as possible. See, that’s the hard part of saying I’d let anything deadly kill me before I treated it. It’s the suffering leading on up till it finishes me off that’d be hard, but I’m certainly going to give it my best! Still, I wish I knew why I can put spells on Blondie to extend his life, and do spells on Tom to keep him cold-free and to help him with sprains and things like that, yet I can’t help myself worth shit.

There is one way we helped me, though, and that’s that we finally got me a pair of reading glasses at the grocery store yesterday. I was surprised by how big even the smallest pair was for my head despite having such a fat face. What a huge difference they make by enlarging the fine print I can no longer see! Eventually, though, I’m going to have to get in for a prescription to help me see close-up. I’ll get a child’s frame at that point.

It’s so true that the rich get richer while the poor only get poorer. Back when we were homeless, we couldn’t get winning lottery tickets to save our lives. Just an occasional two-dollar winner. I had to urge Tom not to bother spending the few precious bucks we had because I knew better. Now that we have money, however, he’s winning like crazy. He has $41 in winning tickets to cash in later on when he goes to do the laundry.

The most exciting thing to happen was the surprise package that came on Friday via FedEx from Nashville. Although it was at the end of my day when the mail was due, I couldn’t sleep because I had one of my feelings. One that said to try to stay up just a little longer for a cool surprise. When I first looked out and saw the package, I thought it was Tom’s party pack or the DVDs, but then I realized the box was too big and too lightweight to be either one of them. Instead, it was a white cowboy hat autographed by Terri Clark! I have one of her songs, Poor, Poor Pitiful Me, which Linda did in the late 70s. She’s got a good strong voice. Very country-sounding.

It was from the Grand Ole Opry sweep that expired on the 15th. It was a two-star sweep in which one randomly drawn winner a day was to win an autographed item of some kind from various country artists for 80 days. I won mine on day 76.

The sucky thing is that no COA of any kind came with it so I don’t know where/how I could sell it. I can’t prove she signed it. Besides, the writing’s so sloppy that I couldn’t even read the name. I thought it was a guy’s writing. I only found out who it was when I checked the sweep’s winner’s list.

Later…

I think that the olive oil we decided to try in my ear may’ve been a big mistake. It seemed to make my ear worse. When I went back to the baby oil, the popping and pressure backed right off like it usually does. The fact that the baby oil seems to help it suggests that it’s not a growth or an infection. Yet if it’s just dead skin, why has it been causing me such headaches for so long?

We’re going to hold off on the portable washer unless he either spots a good deal on one or there really is a windfall of some kind at work that delays the California move for years. We could give up $13 an hour without much risk, but there’d be no way we’d be quick to throw away either bonuses of many thousands of dollars, a potential partnership, or higher wages than what the bank was last paying.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2005 Another day of being oh so glad that next door’s still vacant and that I’m not in that damn duplex listening to the door-slamming, the barking, the TV blaring.

The bad news is that my ear still acts up. Our current guess is that it’s dead skin way deep in the canal. How I wish I never had the surgery or braces! Tom said there’s a slight chance I could’ve developed a condition some people get after having orthodontic work done. We’re going to have me try oiling it twice a day which does seem to help and see what happens. I’d still like to hold off on seeing a doctor who could check it out till we get to California so we don’t have to go all the way to Medford. I’m sure there’s not a doctor in this town who’s even heard of such a thing as congenital atresia. Meanwhile, I’d still like to deal with my teeth. There’s a female dentist we could walk to. I’m willing to cut my $250 a month of spending money down in order to take care of them once and for all.

There is some good news and that’s that the tooth on the side of the good ear has definitely died for sure. Thank God! That tooth drove me crazy for nearly a year and a half. It hit me that it had been a while since it bothered me, so as a test, I went and swished cold water around in my mouth, something that would’ve been excruciating in the past, yet I never felt a thing. And so now I’ve moved on to the ear. Why must I always have something going on with me? As soon as we moved to Oregon and my lungs got better, my tooth took over, and now that it’s dead, the ear’s getting worse.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005 I’ve been a journal writer now for 18 years! It’s hard to believe the person who wrote those Massachusetts journals was me. Of course, that’s just as easy to say about the Connecticut and Arizona ones, and I suppose someday I’ll say that about the Oregon ones.

Nothing regarding the queen’s letter. I’m sure they contacted the pigs upon receiving it simply because that’s what people do when they get pissed at someone. They run to the pigs like kids run to their parents – “Mommy, Daddy, so and so did this to me! Make them stop.” Now knowing the law a lot better than I used to, I know the pigs would only tell them, “This may not have been a nice letter and she may’ve had things to say that you didn’t want to hear, but there’s nothing we can go after her for.”

I’m excited about the end of the month coming up. I feel I’ll win at least twice. I already received the roll of film I was notified about two days ago, but have yet to receive the DVDs I was told about weeks ago.

We got a rental DVD today, but it was cracked, so we’re returning it for another copy. Meanwhile, there’s a couple coming in today.

About a month ago I told Tom I vibed it’d snow on the 29th. About 4 days ago they predicted the shit for today, but now they’ve updated it to Saturday which will be the 29th.

I got a really pretty card with roses from Mary, and as usual, Paula hasn’t written. I haven’t heard from her at all since we moved. I told her once I sent the package, which she should have by now, that I wouldn’t write till I heard from her. That oughta prompt her into writing.

Mary says she likes getting older cuz of the maturity and wisdom that comes with it. Well, I know one thing for sure and that’s that while youth and thinness may look better, I’d never trade my upcoming 40th birthday in for a 20th one if you paid me! Look how much I know now as opposed to 20 years ago or even 10 years ago.

This is one funny rat. He’s down to only two places he likes to be these days; either on my lap or at home. He doesn’t even climb up Tom’s legs anymore. I forgot I left his door open just now and was in the other room talking to Tom when he came running up to me, then turned and ran in here, expectantly looking back at me along the way, so I would follow him before he went home. Guess he just wants me to be in here with him.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2005 Received win notice #15 yesterday, a roll of film. This one sucks because not only do we not have a camera that could use it, but I don’t know if it’s anything I could sell. Oh well. It won’t hurt to try when we have a tag sale, though that shouldn’t be till we’re about the leave the state.

I finally hit 130 pounds, so now I have to take it really easy. It’s just easier said than done when you’re always hungry!

In light of the raise he got, we may sign up for a dental plan and maybe even an insurance plan of some kind towards the end of the year. It’d still cost hundreds of dollars to get my teeth dealt with, but I’m sick and tired of the discomfort they’ve been giving me.

It’s raining for what might be the sixth time since June. The leaves are falling off the trees now, too.

The house next door is still set at 49 grand. I hope to hell that the people selling it are as stubborn and as greedy as can be, determined to get that amount even if it takes years to do so because that would be just the case if they won’t budge on the price. If the house can stay empty and the chick on the other side can stay put, then I’m willing to stay put myself till we can leave the state, so long as we bomb the shit out of this place come spring.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2005 Today was a stark contrast to yesterday. Yesterday there was a 4-hour power outage that had to wake me up for a while, not to mention screw up Tom’s plans for the day.

God, things are going so unbelievably well for us! Just when I think that’s it, all the surprises are in, and more good fortune comes our way!

Tom was making $7.35 a year ago today. Then they jumped him a quarter sometime last winter. Then they recently jumped him to $8.75 at the beginning of this month. Well, today when I got up in the early evening, Tom said, “I know you don’t like to talk when you first get up, but I have to tell you something.” I had no vibes about this whatsoever, but they made him the manager of the Quality Assurance department and it’s to pay $13 an hour, effective immediately!!! Do you know how good that is for being in a place where the cost of living is so low?! Well, let’s put it this way, we could almost pay our entire rent with one week’s pay! Also, we’re now able to save $250 a month towards the California move while I spend $250 on myself and he takes $150 (guys never want to shop as much as we women do).

In light of these events, we’re going to delay the bed a week or two, three at the most, so we can get the entire setup at once. Then I can get a new office chair and be done with this plastic lawn chair so I can then tackle the Tonner dolls I want to collect. I don’t want just the dolls, I want some outfits for them, too. The old line is nearly extinct now, so before they retire some of the old fashions I want, I’ll grab what I can. I probably won’t get anything like a computer desk while we’re still in this state, or a new banana palm, my only plant that didn’t survive the trip up here. Besides, we’ve only got so much room in here. This place is only 500-600 sq. ft.

I just can’t believe it! Can’t believe that those people who less than one year ago were living in motels, crying all the time, wanting to die, and selling stuff just to eat were us! I know one thing for sure and that’s that we’re never living without lucky bamboo plants! We’ll keep up the prayers too, though I’m still not convinced that’s where it’s at. I’ve prayed too many times in the past just to be ignored, so I don’t see why God would listen to me now, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. My old attitude was not to pray to someone who could allow for all the bad things that have happened to me to happen, and while a part of me will always resent Him for it, maybe He did it so I’d appreciate the good times all the more and I do! I don’t know, they say He works in mysterious ways, and well, life really is one big mystery. Who knows for sure why we go through what we go through? Why do some get killed in hurricanes while others win a fortune in the lottery?

To finally be able to have choices in life really makes me feel good. To know that we could license the truck anytime we felt like it is a great feeling. We simply choose not to at the moment because the more we save, the faster we’re out of here. Besides, it’s only a 6-minute walk to work. Still, it’s a nice feeling to know we have the choice. Too much of my life has been spent saying, “I want to go here” while fate or someone with more power over me was always quick to say, “No, you go there.” I’d say, “I want to do this,” while fate/society said, “No, you do that.” I felt like a puppet on a string and it really sucked! I was like a robot programmed by fate and whoever had the power to program me to bend me to their will. I’m not saying we’ll always be in the driver’s seat of our lives from now on, but it’s still nice to get periodic chances to be in control of our own destinies for once and make our own decisions. Getting the truck licensed and insured was simply no option for us for quite a while there and you know how it sucks big time to feel controlled like that and like you’re backed into a corner with no alternatives.

If they started throwing even more money, bonuses or stock options at him, then staying here another year would be well worth it. The more money we have to move with the better.

Another thing this raise brings is peace of mind for if they fired him tomorrow or went out of business because unemployment is based on your income. For the longest time, we didn’t have the security of knowing we could fall back on that if things crumbled, but now we do. So you see, we’d not only be moving with money we saved but with 6 months or more of decent unemployment checks. In Sacramento, there will be even more job opportunities where I can finally have medical insurance for myself as well, including dental (I’m still having that pain on and off which Tom thinks is inflammation rather than infection). And of course, I miss being in a warm climate as well as where it doesn’t snow.

For so long I was so sure we’d be doomed for a lifetime of poverty in the city, and we still may be. However, this huge raise has gotten me to see that there’s a possibility that just maybe we’ll be ok and we’ll get to go rural again someday. Just maybe. I think I would rather return to the days of fighting with wells and sonic booms rather than stay just a few feet away from others and have to hear every bark, every shout, every door slam, every fart, and even every burp for that matter!

It’s too hard to explain, but about 6 months from now Tom should know if there’s even more potential or not at this place as far as bonuses and stock options go. If all goes well, this could be the biggest break we ever had in our lives! I’m talking more money than we once thought we could get from the Maricopa house, like thousands and thousands of dollars. It has to do with first a Japanese company placing a huge order, and now a German company in which case screw moving to California just to go motel and rental hopping as we did here, we’d be buying a house there right away! I kind of wish I could snap my fingers and like the city and cold climates. Just 10-20 grand would buy us a house here. I mean, this is almost what he was getting at the bank! He was making $16 an hour when they fired him for not being a religious freak right along with the others. $16 is probably what he’d have been raised to if we were in Sacramento right now because the cost of living is higher there so they pay more.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2005 Tom and I went to the store today. They’re draining the canal. I guess they do this every winter. It stinks worse than the ocean! The seagulls love it because it’s easier for them to catch fish. Tom swore he saw three otters a few weeks ago.

In the letter I got from Mary a few days ago praising me for praying to God and sympathizing with how shitty Bob lived before he died, she enclosed an address. She said if I just write to that address asking for them, they’ll send non-religious books about spirituality, karma, etc. I don’t know that I’ll find them all that interesting as opposed to a good mystery novel, but maybe I could sell them.

The wins are getting more worthless, though Tom kind of likes the 1-month subscription to NASCAR’s track pass that I won in an instant win game. This allows one to hear communications between the drivers and those in the pit crew which you can’t hear watching the races on TV.

I also won, so I learned via snail mail today, a year’s subscription to some traveling magazine. It was a 2nd prize-winning. It can’t be much of a magazine to have an ARV of just $8.

Amazingly, I finished my story last night and I’ll admit I kind of rushed it along. Due to how busy I am with the sweeps, I don’t know if I’ll write any more stories for a while.

Although Tom didn’t think my ear/tooth pain had become infected since I had no fever, if I could know since I was around 5 that I couldn’t conceive, then I should know other things, too. So when I said it had become infected, I knew I was right. Not only is women’s intuition real, but we know ourselves better than others, don’t we? And so he looked online for natural cures to replace antibiotics and found that an herbal extract called Echinacea might help and so far it has. The pain’s not gone, but it’s lessened a lot. Something better help it because my prayers and spells have been worthless.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2005 Today’s been unusually quiet for being in the city. It seems the National Hear Me obsession backs off with cooler weather, which makes sense because even these idiots know that when it’s warmer, people tend to open their windows or sit outside where they can hear them do their shit. Everyone’s gotta be on stage. Hear me. Notice me. I exist! Meanwhile, if it were like this every day then I’d be more than glad to remain in the city where it’s more convenient.

Although it’s cold at night, sometimes freezing, most of the days are still pleasant. It’s been a warmer, dryer fall as well as a warmer, dryer summer.

Although we were supposed to get it today, yesterday was when we got the shirt and CDs that had been sent to the old place. There were 4 CD samplers of upcoming bands and one shirt.

With all the sweeping I’ve been doing, roughly 600 entries a day, though mostly dailies, I’d be surprised if I weren’t snagged twice at the end of the month.

I forgot to mention that Yves enclosed a coupon for $20 off my next order because they had to send a substitute free gift, though I’m glad they ran out of the face-cleaning system they were initially sending because I like what they sent better – shampoo, lotion, perfume.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2005 My beauty supplies came today. With all the dry weather going on for the last few months, my skin really needed a boost from them! I’ve been enjoying the samples they’ve enclosed to the thump of God knows who’s music. There’s usually something going on around here that’s audible enough to be annoying, but I know it’s nothing compared to when the house next door sells. That’ll be maddening! I still can’t believe they haven’t yet put restrictions on loud music or at least time restrictions. If they haven’t by now, though, they never will. Not surprisingly, the email he sent in about not saving the lottery ticket (and we can’t imagine why any of the winners would’ve read the ultra-fine print and saved the losing tickets) hasn’t generated a response.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2005 We ran into a coworker of his the other day. We run into them quite often, actually, since this is such a small town. The religious nut at work knows the old lady next door. Says she’s religious, too. Better them than the freeloaders. Yesterday was annoying around here between music in front and barking in back. The music didn’t last long, but the barking went on for hours and I was like, can’t anyone hear this? Isn’t anyone going to do something??? To know dogs will be a lifelong problem for me makes me want to scream! And music, too. Tom thinks I’ll win a gift card soon. Hope he’s right!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2005 The last two days have been incredibly exciting with one big letdown in the middle of it all.

For starters, I’m winning more than I can keep track of! Now they’re getting me in the middle of the month, too. I think they’re going to get me more than once on the 31st what with all the sweeping I’ve been doing. It’s literally consuming 90% of my life!

I was pissed to have gotten a message saying that I won a prize that had been forfeited because it had been sent by UPS and then returned to them. They said they made “several” attempts to reach me yet it was the first I’d heard about it. I wrote back saying, “To say you’ve made several attempts to reach me is BULLSHIT!” Then they replied saying they were sorry I didn’t get anything and would still like to send me something. It was a common prize pack consisting of The Misfits paraphernalia. They’re a band of some kind. I told him he could hold the beanie and stickers and send T-shirts and CDs, and I apologized for swearing at him. He said he understood and that the stuff would be sent to the new address via UPS. I have no interest in this stuff, but Tom needs new T-shirts. Most of his have holes and stains on them.

Then I received two surprise DVDs in the mail, along with two win notifications. One was for a single DVD, the other was for season two of Hogan’s Heroes. We don’t care for any of them, so we’ll leave them sealed up. Then once we get a little collection going, we’ll sell them off.

Yesterday, even Tom won like crazy. He won an X-box 360. This thing isn’t going to be on the market till November 22nd and has a retail value of $580, including all the stuff he’s going to get with it. He’ll be receiving two coupons for 12-packs of Mountain Dew, 5 shirts, 5 hats, 1 game, and invitations to invite others to play with it along with you. That’s why they call it a party pack, though our party will just consist of the two of us and the rat. I may not need to buy a bigger drive after all. We won’t know for sure till we get it. But once he rips more of my Charlie’s Angels episodes, we’ll need to put them somewhere. Instead of buying season two, though, I’m just going to rent it and rip it. It’s so much easier to have them stored on the hard drive so I can just click on the title of the one I want, rather than to have to load DVDs.

Where we really got all fired up over nothing was when the mailman came with a registered letter yesterday that I miraculously slept through. I guess my subconscious must’ve written his knocking off to the pounding beat of the zillions of car stereos that go by. When I got up a couple of hours later and looked at the slip he left, my first thought was that it was Arizona out to harass us again. Whenever it’s something bad, they leave no sender name. However, this one said the sender was from the Oregon Lottery!

When Tom came home he told me he had a losing ticket which said to enter the number of any losing tickets into a drawing that was held about two months ago. Being a losing ticket, though, he threw it out afterward. Meanwhile, he jumped online last night to see what it could possibly be and found that there was 1 grand prize winner drawn on the 6th for 3 grand, and 14 for $500. Naturally, we got all excited figuring we could at least get the new bed out of the way so we could move on to other things we want to get. If we were real, real lucky, we could win the 3 grand and put a grand towards the move. That’d put us a third of the way there as far as the $2,500 we want to have for the move on top of his unemployment which just went up as far as what he’s eligible for, along with his pay, since it’s based on your income.

However, it turned out to be nothing but a cruel tease, so we learned when we went to the post office today. All we got out of it was good exercise because all it was was a letter (and I don’t know why they had to send this certified) saying that we won $500, but in order to claim it we’d need to provide them with numbers from the ticket, but we don’t have the ticket! What a bummer. A total pisser! I was pissed and bummed, but it would’ve been way worse had we lost out on a potential 3 grand! At least we have the other wins to look forward to and he’s still making good money, too. In fact, we put the first $100 towards the California move in a special container, and that was pretty emotional for me.

He’s still going to email them and explain that we moved and he no longer has the ticket, and ask what his alternatives are to claiming the money, but we’re sure it won’t do us any good.

We should still have the mattress by early November. Then I’ll go back to my original plan of rotating between big and small purchases. After the bed, which should be about $150 of our extra money, I’m going to get a basic Esme doll in a violet teddy, violet strappy sandals, and violet eyes. Her hair is a coppery color. Sable, I think they call it. Then I’ll probably get the headboard/shelves, another doll, then the bed’s platform, another doll, then a new comforter. I have a separate savings for things we need at K-Mart – new silverware, bath towels, clothes, etc. I’ve only gotten a few new pieces of clothing in years. It just hasn’t been a high priority for me, but I could really use new sports bras and a pair of pants, too.

I got the Tyler doll on Wednesday. They’ve gotten way better at making them. I don’t care for the jointed elbows because they don’t look as nice, but I like how the legs are more poseable. They now also swivel at the waist and even the upper body can bend left to right. Some now even have bendable wrists. I’m sure I’ll end up with one of those someday. I compiled a list of about 7 different dolls I want, as well as some outfits.

Anyway, unlike my other Tyler doll who’s a blue-eyed brunette with forward-glancing eyes, this one’s a redhead with green side-glancing eyes. They both have ponytails, only this one’s lower and her hair is parted at the side. The other sweeps straight back.

With the way we’ve been winning and shopping, I just may wish I could be on days more often just to collect packages! Still, I’d rather be woken up every day for fun stuff, than once in a while for some rude, inconsiderate asshole.

We also got the new vacuum. It’s by far the best we’ve ever had. It’s so compact and lightweight compared to the old one. It’s 11 pounds. The other was 20. It’s out front waiting till Tom unloads the truck this weekend and puts the stuff in the utility room. He wants to vacuum it out first, then we’ll probably dump it. Either way, it won’t be moving with us. We also have a hand vacuum and that’s enough.

We also got the cable to use one of the laser printers. It can’t do color, but this one’s much newer, nicer, faster and lightweight compared to the one I used in Maricopa.

Tomorrow I hope to get my order from Yves. I’m a little worried about them right now. They sent me a receipt for my order, but they’re ignoring all my emails about it. That’s not like them at all, so I wonder if something’s wrong.

About 4 nights ago I heard a mouse up in the attic chewing around where the heater’s vent pipe goes through. I haven’t heard it since.

Blondie’s on my lap right now. He’s my sweeping partner. Sits on my lap for hours at a time. He’s asleep at the moment. He’s been a little perkier, though nothing like he was a few months ago. His fur’s thinning quite a bit, too.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2005 Today I received a win notice saying I won movie tickets to a premiere in Louisiana, so that’s not good. Also, I got an email saying that after having my prize returned to them that they’d sent via UPS, they had to forfeit the prize to someone else. I was like, what prize? So I replied to the email saying I had no idea I’d won anything from them and explained that we moved. It was probably just a book, but it’s all the more reason to sign on with a mailing company down in California with all the moving we do. Mail not related to the sweeps can go directly to us, but the sweeps need an address that’s not going to change as long as we stay in the Sacramento area.

Anyway, it should be only a matter of time before I hit a big one, even if it takes a few years to do it. Having 9 wins in 5 months is encouraging.

Got a letter from Mary today. She’s happy we’re happy. I guess Monster’s in the funny farm now crying insanity. Then they’ll make the bastard stand trial when they think he’s competent enough for it, though I’m sure he always was. I can’t help but wonder how the hell much longer is this going to go on. Maybe Mary isn’t getting out soon after all. She doesn’t think she’ll end up in prison, but nobody wants to think they’ll end up in prison.

UPS will be coming here tomorrow, the next day, and the next! First comes Tyler, then the cable, then the vacuum.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2005 I never thought I’d get a win notice in the middle of the night, but I just did. I was 1 of 5 to win a DVD. I figured I’d win a DVD sooner or later. Next will probably be a T-shirt or a CD. It was a one-time email entry made before I went premium. It was a one-star sweep that expired on the 30th. I figured they got me even though I didn’t have any dreams. Someone’s gotta snag your name when you make thousands of entries each month! I wonder if all I’ll ever win are 1-star sweeps. And I wonder if I’ll always be 1 of 5 winners? I wouldn’t care how many stars or winners there were if I could win something good!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2005 I finally got caught up on the sweeps, though it’s still much more work on a daily basis than it used to be. That’s fine with me, though. It gives me a life and a purpose. Especially when I win! I expect a win notification soon even though I haven’t had any dreams since the one I had a couple of days after we moved. I’ve been so busy that I’ve neglected my book big time. I don’t think I’m going to continue with the story-writing, though I will try to finish this one even if it takes a year. The sweeping’s pretty much become my entire life, and although writing’s fun, I’d rather work at something that has a shot at producing something.

It’s hard to believe that the same people who had to cancel Webshots, cancel Netflix, and wonder how they were going to pay their bills not even a year ago, now have a Tonner doll on the way, plus some beauty supplies, plus a cable to bring the laser printer to life, plus the brand new vacuum we’ve been needing for too many years to keep track of!

And of course, I just got an oil order, even if half a dozen of the fragrances are wrong. I’m definitely, definitely done with this guy. You just never know what you’re gonna get from him. Everything is hit or miss with him, whereas I prefer to get what I order.

We walked up to Circle K today. It was a bit more of a workout since it’s mostly uphill, but I needed it. Especially with the way I’ve been eating. We’ve been walking together a few times a week.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2005 Except for a few minor irritations such as music from across the street, barking from across the canal, and the neighbors slamming their car doors (I can’t figure out when they sleep or why they need to slam the doors so hard every 2 to 3 times they come and go), and the usual city sounds, today was a damn good day.

Tom got a good review at work, even though he took a wasp home with him. He said he felt like something had been crawling on him all the way home, and when he finally got home, he found that it was a wasp. He’s lucky he didn’t get stung.

Anyway, today I got 3 movies to look forward to, a pizza at one of the pizza parlors downtown, a bamboo plant, patchouli incense, and my oils.

This bamboo plant is curly, has two shoots instead of one, and is much taller than the other one. The other one’s about 7”, but this one’s over 2’. I got a 100-pack of patchouli sticks from the same Asian chick that sells bamboo plants. Although all good things must come to an end and I don’t expect us to stay as rich as we’ve become forever (and believe me when I say we’re rich compared to how we were a year ago or even 6 months ago), I’d say the lucky bamboo plant is the most likely source of our good fortune over anything else. Why? Because the horseshoe didn’t seem to do the previous tenants much good, and other things have been tried before that haven’t always worked.

Bob got the oils right on, amazingly, although there are a few that smell a bit off. I’ve learned, though, that when cool, the oils don’t always smell like they smell when burning, so I won’t worry just yet that the cedar kind of smells like pine. Meanwhile, he hasn’t billed us for the holly berry he’s out of stock on. I got 20 oils today which took an hour to dip. I now only have about 160 blanks left.

The rat is sitting on my lap now. He’s been doing that lately where he climbs up my leg and sits with me while I work.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2005 I’ve been on a major sweeping frenzy. That’s because I went premium on Saturday! I was sweeping away as usual, got up for a few minutes, then returned to my computer to find additional features on the page. The ‘shazam’ feature alone is worth the $30 a year. It allows me to open every sweep on a page at once. I can now also have an unlimited number of sweeps in ‘my sweeps’ and I have access to the premium sweeps too, of course. I’m still catching up on those. I’ve caught up on the dailies, the 24-hours, the unknowns, the weeklies and the monthlies, but I need to catch up on the singles. There are a couple thousand of them! Oh, how I’d gladly settle for a $500 Walmart gift card! That’d buy the complete bed ensemble and more. The premium sweeps are much like the freebies, though there are more bigger prizes there. In some cases, the 2nd and 3rd prizes are better than the grand prize.

Wednesday will mark two years since I cut my hair. It’s gone from barely brushing my shoulders to just below my waist since then.

I’ve decided that November would be a good time to send Paula’s package. That way it’ll be more spaced out evenly with her birthday package. I was going to send it in January after the Christmas rush was over. She’s going to faint when she sees all the CDs I’m sending! We just don’t need them anymore since we ripped them and made them into MP3s.

Bob says he’s shipping the 21 4-oz bottles of oils I ordered out today. He’s out of one of them, though.

I’ll also be ordering from Yves at the end of the week.

My ear – tooth – whatever it is, has been acting up again. I guess I’m just meant to suffer in that department. The other night I dreamt that the second molar up top fell out. Ironically, that’s the tooth with the killer cavity. I hope that was a premonition and not just a dream! I’d love to be rid of that tooth.

Tom’s found a way to compress my Charlie’s Angels episodes so I can cut out of having to get season two. It will be a lot more convenient to have them stored as files on my computer so I don’t have to insert the CDs. Then all we’ll have to do is get a DVD recorder and find a station that’s running the episodes she was in that they’re not going to put out on DVD so I can have those, too. Better yet, if I could record them straight onto the hard drive, that’d be even better, though I’d need a bigger drive to store them all.

Later…

Bendejo Bob’s being his usual self. When I emailed him yesterday asking for a tracking number, he said he didn’t work the day before because his daughter’s going to Mexico for three months on Wednesday, and so he had to do dinner with her and her best friend who’s going with her. Meanwhile, he’ll send me a tracking number today which I haven’t received and I know I won’t. At least not for a few weeks anyway. Besides, I know he’s got to play with me a while for getting the last order free, even if it took two months to get it.

I’m not quite caught up with entering the premium sweeps that have yet to expire, but I’m getting there. I swept for 14 hours yesterday. If that doesn’t win us something I’d be way surprised!

Later…

Unfuckingbelievable! Bob just sent me a tracking number! Now all I have to do is hope he sent it to the right address and didn’t fuck up the order itself too badly. He still owes me the one he was out of too unless he just got it in and had time to throw it in the package.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2005 Yesterday turned out to be an awesome day! Not without next door worrying me first, though. Again I thought they were moving because they were loading stuff up and getting pretty annoying about it too, with loud door slamming. The same guy returned in another car that was red like hers. I was surprised to look out at one point and see two red cars there. According to Tom, everyone hunts here, and yesterday was the first day of hunting season, so I guess they were going hunting.

Tom said he saw another car over there the other day. The person pulled in, knocked on her door, then took off. Guess I was asleep when that happened.

What made yesterday so great was that he got a surprise raise! He was so stunned when he saw his paycheck that he wondered if he’d gotten someone else’s check. Guess they just forgot to mention it. This is a really good raise too, compared to the last time. The last time they only jumped him a quarter. This time they jumped him $1.15, so he’s gone from $7.60 an hour to $8.75. Not bad for an area where the cost of living is so low. This is $40 extra a week. He’s working today, but that extra $88 we thought he’d get today is going to be an extra $105!

I may get some beauty supplies from Yves Rocher real soon since we’re low on lotion and shower gel. I miss them and the free shipping and free gifts they give you with orders over $40.

I had a moving vibe for May of next year, but it faded fast. Moving in May makes no sense. We couldn’t possibly save up enough money by then to spring us out of state, so that’d mean either something really good or something really bad would have to happen for us to move then. I’d have to win us a lot of money or things would have to get so bad here that we just couldn’t stick it out and we had to leave.

For now, although I’m still hampered by occasional ear/tooth pain, things have been going so much better for us. I’ve been happier in the month that we’ve lived here than in all 10 months we lived at the duplex.

[scratchrepair]

Revitalize Your Vehicle with High-Quality Touch Up Paint

When it comes to maintaining the pristine look of your car, having access to quality touch up paint can make all the difference. Whether you drive a Toyota or have custom alloy wheels, finding the right paint solutions is essential. Scratch Repair Car offers a diverse range of touch up products that cater to various needs, including Toyota touch up paint, engine paint collections, and black alloy wheel touch up paint. Here’s a comprehensive look at how these options can help you restore and protect your car’s finish.

Why Touch Up Paint Matters

Touch up paint serves several important functions for car owners. It not only improves the appearance of your vehicle but also helps prevent rust and corrosion by protecting exposed metal. Whether it’s a small chip, scratch, or more extensive blemish, using the right type of touch up paint can ensure a seamless finish that enhances your car’s aesthetic.

Benefits of Using High-Quality Touch Up Paint

Preserve Vehicle Value: Regular use of touch up paint helps maintain your car’s resale value by preventing visible damage from worsening.

Cost-Effective Repairs: Touch up paint is an affordable way to manage minor issues without resorting to expensive bodywork.

Ease of Use: With proper application techniques, anyone can achieve professional-looking results at home.

Explore the Best Touch Up Paint Options

Toyota Touch Up Paint

For Toyota owners, the ability to match the factory paint perfectly is crucial. Scratch Repair Car provides high-quality Toyota touch up paint that ensures a flawless match to your car’s original color. This paint is designed to blend seamlessly, making minor chips and scratches virtually invisible.

Engine Paint Collection

Engine compartments often take a beating from heat, oil, and debris. The engine paint collection offered by Scratch Repair Car is specially formulated to withstand high temperatures and resist oil and chemical exposure. This durable paint not only revitalizes your engine’s appearance but also adds a layer of protection that can prevent rusting and degradation.

Black Alloy Wheel Touch Up Paint

Alloy wheels are prone to scuffs, scratches, and chips, especially when driving on rough roads or after parking too close to curbs. The black alloy wheel touch up paint available at Scratch Repair Car is designed to restore the original look of your wheels with ease. This paint is formulated for durability and smooth application, ensuring that your wheels look as good as new.

How to Apply Touch Up Paint for Cars

Applying touch up paint correctly is essential to achieving the best results. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you:

Clean the Area: Ensure the damaged area is clean and free from dirt, oil, and rust.

Sand the Surface: Lightly sand the scratched area to smooth out rough edges.

Apply the Paint: Use a fine brush or applicator to apply the paint in thin, even coats.

Allow to Dry: Let each coat dry fully before applying additional layers. This helps prevent runs and unevenness.

Seal with Clear Coat: Finish by applying a clear coat to protect the paint and enhance its shine.

Why Choose Scratch Repair Car for Your Paint Needs

With a wide range of products, including Toyota touch up paint, engine paint collections, and black alloy wheel touch up paint, Scratch Repair Car stands out as a reliable source for car paint solutions. Their high-quality products ensure that your vehicle stays looking its best while providing long-lasting protection against wear and tear.

Final Thoughts

Investing in touch up paint is an essential step in maintaining your car’s aesthetics and value. Whether you’re dealing with minor scratches, engine blemishes, or alloy wheel damage, having the right products on hand can make all the difference. Choose Scratch Repair Car for top-tier paint solutions and keep your vehicle in impeccable condition.

[fabteccars]

Get Silver & Black Car Covers Call Us:+91 97113 93973

If you’re looking to protect your vehicle from harsh elements and keep it in top condition, silver and black car covers are an excellent choice. These high-quality car covers offer a unique blend of style, functionality, and protection that makes them stand out. Designed with a striking silver and black color scheme, these covers by Fabtec Company are not only visually appealing but also serve essential protective functions that can help preserve your car’s finish, interior, and overall condition.

Why Choose Silver and Black Car Covers?

Silver and black car covers are specially designed with both practicality and aesthetics in mind. The silver side typically faces outward, and the black side faces the car, each color serving a distinct purpose. The silver layer is crafted to reflect sunlight and reduce heat buildup, which can cause paint fading and damage to interior components. The black underside, on the other hand, is soft and non-abrasive, ensuring that it won’t scratch or damage your car's paint.

The dual-color design by Fabtec does not just look good but also enhances the car cover's performance in various conditions, making it suitable for both outdoor and indoor use. The silver exterior reflects UV rays and helps keep the vehicle cool in sunny conditions, while the soft black interior protects against scratches and ensures a snug fit against your car’s surface.

Key Benefits of Silver and Black Car Covers

UV and Heat Protection: Sun exposure can take a toll on a vehicle, causing the paint to fade and the interior to overheat. The silver outer layer of these covers is designed to reflect sunlight and minimize UV damage, helping to keep your car looking new and preserving the condition of your dashboard, seats, and electronics. This is particularly useful if you park your car outside frequently or live in a sunny climate.

Protection from Dust and Dirt: Dust, pollen, and debris can accumulate on a parked car, leading to a dull appearance and potentially causing scratches when you wash it. A silver and black car cover acts as a shield, keeping dust off your vehicle and reducing the need for frequent cleaning. This is especially beneficial for those who park their cars outdoors or in dusty areas.

Weather Resistance: These covers are designed to withstand various weather conditions, including rain and snow. The silver layer is typically water-resistant, providing a barrier against moisture. This keeps rain, snow, and dew from directly contacting your vehicle's surface, reducing the risk of rust and corrosion. Additionally, these covers are often breathable, allowing moisture and condensation to escape, which helps prevent mold and mildew growth.

Scratch Prevention: The soft black underside of the cover is designed to be gentle on your car’s finish. This layer provides a cushion between the cover and the vehicle, preventing scratches caused by dirt particles or accidental bumps. This feature is especially useful for high-value or luxury cars where maintaining a pristine paint job is crucial.

Indoor and Outdoor Versatility: Silver and black car covers are versatile enough for both indoor and outdoor use. They’re easy to install and remove, making them convenient for daily use. Whether you need to protect your car from dust in the garage or harsh weather outside, these covers offer a flexible solution that fits various scenarios.

Added Security: Many silver and black car covers come with attachment features that help secure the cover, making it harder to remove or tamper with. This can be a small but effective deterrent to theft, as it adds an extra step for anyone attempting to access your vehicle.

Choosing the Right Size and Fit

When selecting a silver and black car cover, it’s important to choose the correct size. These covers are available in various sizes to fit different types of vehicles, including sedans, SUVs, and trucks. A well-fitting cover provides maximum protection and ensures that all sides of the car are properly shielded.

Final Thoughts

Silver and black car covers are an ideal choice for those who want to keep their vehicle in top condition while adding a touch of style. With their UV protection, water resistance, and scratch-prevention features, these covers provide reliable protection and peace of mind. Whether you park your car indoors or outdoors, choosing silver and black car cover is a smart investment that helps protect your vehicle and prolong its lifespan. To get more information, visit https://www.fabtec.co.in/product-category/car-body-covers/silver-black-car-body-covers/.

[mad4detailing]

Car Detailing Products You Didn’t Know Your Vehicle Needed.

Your car is more than just a mode of transportation—it’s an investment, a reflection of your personality, and sometimes even your second home. While regular cleaning and maintenance are essential, there are some hidden gems in the world of car detailing products that can truly transform the way your vehicle looks and feels. Let’s dive into the must-have products that you probably didn’t know your car needed!

1. Clay Bars: The Secret to a Silky-Smooth Finish

Think your car's paint is clean after a wash? Think again. Microscopic contaminants like industrial fallout, tree sap, and road tar cling stubbornly to the surface. A clay bar removes these impurities, leaving your car’s paint ultra-smooth and ready for waxing. It’s like giving your car a facial!

2. Iron Fallout Removers: For That Deep Clean You Can’t See

Did you know tiny metal particles can embed themselves in your car's paint and wheels? These particles cause rust spots over time. Iron fallout removers dissolve these contaminants, protecting your car from hidden damage. It’s a game-changer for maintaining that showroom shine.

3. Ceramic Spray Coatings: Ultimate Protection in Minutes

Tired of waxing your car every few weeks? Ceramic spray coatings offer long-lasting protection against dirt, UV rays, and water spots. Unlike traditional wax, these sprays are easy to apply and provide a hydrophobic finish that makes water bead off effortlessly.

4. All-Purpose Cleaners: The Jack-of-All-Trades Product

From dashboards to door panels and even carpets, an all-purpose cleaner is your go-to for tackling grime and stains. It saves time and money by replacing multiple specialized products, while still delivering sparkling results.

5. Tire Dressing: Bring Back the Black

Dull tires can ruin the overall look of your car. A high-quality tire dressing not only restores the rich black color but also adds a protective layer to prevent cracking and fading. It’s like makeup for your tires—subtle but effective.

6. Microfiber Towels: More Than Just a Fancy Rag

Using an old t-shirt or a random cloth to clean your car? Stop right there. Microfiber towels are specifically designed to trap dirt and dust without scratching your car’s surfaces. Invest in a good set, and you’ll never go back to regular rags.

7. Leather Conditioners: Keep Your Seats Luxurious

If you have leather seats, a leather conditioner is a must. It prevents cracking, fading, and drying out, while keeping your seats soft and supple. Your car’s interior deserves just as much love as the exterior!

8. Glass Sealants: Clear Vision, Always

Ever struggle with rainwater smearing across your windshield? Glass sealants create a protective barrier that repels water, ensuring clear visibility during rainy drives. A bonus? It also makes cleaning bug splatters and dirt much easier.

9. Engine Bay Cleaners: Don’t Ignore What’s Under the Hood

Your engine bay might not be on display, but keeping it clean improves its longevity and efficiency. Engine bay cleaners help remove grease and grime without damaging sensitive components. It’s like a spa day for your car’s heart.

10. Odor Neutralizers: A Breath of Fresh Air

Air fresheners mask odors, but odor neutralizers eliminate them at the source. From spilled coffee to gym bag smells, these products ensure your car’s cabin always smells fresh and inviting.

Conclusion

Your car works hard to keep up with your lifestyle—why not treat it to the best care possible? These underrated car detailing products not only enhance your vehicle’s appearance but also extend its life. Whether you're a car enthusiast or just someone who wants their ride looking its best, adding these products to your arsenal will make a world of difference.

[trywonderx]

What are the painting methods to prevent iron from rusting? - Trywonderx

At Trywonderx, we specialize in providing painting methods to prevent iron from rusting. We have extensive knowledge and experience when it comes to the Painting Iron to Prevent Rusting and the prevention of rusting over time. Our products and services are always of the highest quality and our commitment to providing a lasting solution to iron rust is something that has made us an industry leader. We are proud of the service we provide and guarantee the best results for our customers every time.

One of the most common methods to prevent iron from rusting is to apply a coating of paint. The paint creates a physical barrier between the iron and the surrounding air and moisture, preventing the iron from coming into contact with oxygen and water, which are necessary for the rusting process to occur.

There are different types of paint that can be used for this purpose, such as oil-based paints, epoxy paints, and zinc-rich paints. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages, and the choice will depend on the specific needs of the application.

Other Painting Iron to Prevent Rusting  methods that can help prevent rusting include using a primer before applying the paint, as this can provide additional protection against moisture. Additionally, regular maintenance and touch-ups to the paint coating can help ensure its longevity and effectiveness in preventing rust.

It's worth noting that while Painting Iron to Prevent Rusting  is an effective method for preventing rust, it's not always a permanent solution. Over time, paint coatings can wear down or become damaged, which can allow moisture and oxygen to reach the iron and lead to rusting. Therefore, it's important to monitor the condition of painted surfaces and perform maintenance as necessary to ensure their continued protection.

How to apply: Technique tips and tricks

Applying paint to prevent rust requires careful preparation and application techniques to ensure the coating is effective and long-lasting. Here are some tips and tricks for applying paint to prevent rust:

Surface preparation: Before applying any paint, it's important to prepare the surface by removing any existing rust, dirt, oil, or other contaminants that may prevent the paint from adhering properly. This can be done using a wire brush, sandpaper, or a chemical rust remover. Once the surface is clean, dry, and free of debris, it's ready for painting.

Choose the right paint: There are different types of paint available for preventing rust, and it's important to choose the right one for the specific application. Oil-based paints are commonly used for outdoor surfaces, while epoxy and zinc-rich paints are often used in harsher environments or for industrial applications. Consult with a paint supplier or expert if you're unsure which type of paint is best for your needs.

Apply a primer: Applying a primer before the paint can help improve the adhesion and longevity of the paint coating. The primer can also provide additional protection against moisture and rust. Choose a primer that's compatible with the paint you're using and apply it according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Apply the paint: When applying the paint, use a brush, roller, or spray gun, depending on the size and shape of the surface. Apply thin, even coats, and allow each coat to dry completely before applying the next. This will help ensure that the paint coating is uniform and provides complete coverage.

Touch-ups and maintenance: Even with the best preparation and application techniques, paint coatings can become damaged over time. Regular maintenance and touch-ups can help prolong the life of the paint and prevent rust from forming. Keep an eye out for any areas where the paint has chipped or worn away and apply a fresh coat of paint as necessary.

By following these tips and tricks, you can help ensure that your painted surfaces remain rust-free and protected for years to come.

Conclusion:

In conclusion,we would like to remind readers that proper Painting Iron to Prevent Rusting  methods can help prevent rust and keep your iron looking its best. Contact Trywonderx today to learn more about our painting services!

Contact - info@trywonderx.com

Phone Number: 020 - 2606 1530Location: Suprabha Corporate House, 373, Somwar Peth, Pune - 411 001, India

[superiorexotic24]

Common Car Paint Problems in Miami and How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix Them

Living in Miami means your car is exposed to unique environmental factors that can lead to various paint-related problems. The combination of hot sun, high humidity, salt air from the ocean, and frequent thunderstorms can be tough on your car’s exterior. As a result, common paint issues such as fading, chipping, oxidation, and rust are more likely to occur. Fortunately, a reputable paint and body shop like Superior Exotics Color & Paint can help address these issues and restore your car’s appearance. In this article, we’ll explore the most common car paint problems in Miami and how a professional paint and body shop can fix them.

1. Fading and Sun Damage

Miami’s intense sun can be brutal on your Car Painting Miami, causing it to fade over time. UV rays can break down the molecular structure of the paint, leading to a dull, lifeless finish. The exterior may start to lose its vibrant color, especially on darker shades like black, blue, and red.

How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix It:

A professional paint and body shop can restore your car’s shine by reapplying a fresh coat of paint. For minor fading, polishing and buffing techniques may be sufficient to bring back some of the original luster. For more severe fading, a complete repaint with high-quality UV-protective paint can restore the car to its former glory. A clear coat with UV protection is also often applied to prevent further sun damage.

2. Oxidation

Oxidation occurs when the paint’s protective clear coat breaks down over time, causing the surface to appear chalky, dull, and rough. It is often seen in cars that have been exposed to the sun and harsh environmental conditions, like the ones in Miami. The breakdown of the clear coat exposes the base paint layer to the elements, causing oxidation.

How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix It:

To correct oxidation, a professional polishing and buffing process is often necessary to remove the top layer of oxidized paint and restore the original surface. If the oxidation is extensive, the clear coat may need to be entirely stripped off, followed by a reapplication of a fresh coat of paint and clear coat to protect the new layer. A paint and body shop can provide expert restoration to eliminate the chalky finish and restore your car’s smooth, glossy look.

3. Chips and Scratches

Whether from road debris, parking lot incidents, or careless handling, chips and scratches are a common problem for car owners in Miami. The sand and salt from the beach, along with the congestion of urban driving, can leave your car’s paint vulnerable to nicks and scratches. These imperfections not only detract from the car’s appearance but can also lead to further damage if left untreated, as water and dirt can penetrate the exposed areas.

How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix It:

For small chips and scratches, a touch-up paint service can be performed, where the damaged area is carefully filled in with color-matching paint. If the damage is more extensive, a professional repair may involve sanding down the affected area, priming, and repainting to seamlessly blend the repair with the original paint. The area is then finished with a fresh clear coat to ensure a smooth, glossy surface that protects against future damage.

4. Rust

Miami’s salty air from the ocean, combined with high humidity, makes rust a common problem for cars in the area. Rust typically forms on areas of the car that are exposed to the elements, such as the wheel wells, undercarriage, and lower body panels. Once rust starts to form, it can spread rapidly, causing significant damage to the body of the car.

How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix It:

Dealing with rust requires immediate attention to prevent further damage. A paint and body shop will begin by removing the rust through sanding or media blasting, depending on the severity. After removing the rust, they will repair the affected areas by filling in holes with body filler and then smoothing the surface. Once the surface is smooth, a new coat of paint and protective clear coat is applied to prevent the rust from returning. In more severe cases, metal panels may need to be replaced before painting to ensure a proper repair.

5. Swirl Marks and Scratches from Improper Washing

Swirl marks and light scratches are often the result of improper washing or drying techniques, such as using abrasive towels or cleaning products that aren’t suitable for car paint. These marks are especially noticeable on darker-colored cars, where they can create an unsightly haze or pattern on the surface.

How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix It:

A Car Painting Miami shop can repair swirl marks by performing a multi-stage polishing process to remove the fine scratches and restore the smoothness of the paint. In some cases, a clear coat correction may be required to ensure the surface is completely smooth. By using high-quality tools and techniques, the shop can restore your car’s surface to a glossy, flawless finish.

6. Water Spots and Mineral Stains

In Miami, the frequent rain showers, combined with high humidity, can lead to the formation of water spots on your car’s paint. These spots are caused when water droplets dry on the surface and leave mineral deposits behind. Over time, these mineral deposits can etch into the paint, leaving permanent marks.

How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix It:

A paint and body shop can remove water spots using a special detailing process that involves polishing the surface to break down the mineral deposits. In more severe cases, the area may need to be wet-sanded and repainted to remove the stains. To prevent future water spots, a protective coating, such as ceramic coating or wax, is often recommended to create a hydrophobic layer that repels water.

7. Peeling Paint

Peeling paint is a common issue, especially if the car has been subjected to extreme weather conditions or if the original paint job wasn’t applied properly. The paint may begin to peel away from the surface, creating an uneven and unattractive finish. Miami’s heat and humidity can exacerbate this problem, particularly if the paint wasn’t properly sealed with a protective clear coat.

How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix It:

To fix peeling paint, a professional paint and body shop will need to strip the affected areas, smooth the surface, and then reapply fresh paint. The process often includes sanding the area to remove the loose paint, priming the surface, and applying a new layer of paint followed by a clear coat for protection. This process ensures the paint bonds properly with the surface and provides long-lasting protection against further peeling.

8. Dull or Faded Finish from Environmental Contaminants

In addition to sun damage, Miami’s environment is full of pollutants, such as tree sap, bird droppings, and road tar, which can all cause the car’s paint to look dull over time. These contaminants can damage the paint’s finish if not properly cleaned off and protected.

How a Paint and Body Shop Can Fix It:

A paint and body shop can restore your car’s finish by deep cleaning and polishing the surface to remove environmental contaminants. For stubborn contaminants, a clay bar treatment may be used to lift the dirt without damaging the Car Painting Miami. After cleaning and polishing, a protective layer of wax or ceramic coating can be applied to prevent future contamination and keep your paint looking fresh.

Conclusion

Miami’s hot and humid climate, combined with exposure to the ocean breeze and frequent storms, can cause a variety of paint issues for your vehicle. Whether it’s fading, oxidation, chips, or rust, a professional paint and body shop like Superior Exotics Color & Paint can help address these common problems and restore your car’s appearance. By using expert techniques and high-quality materials, a paint and body shop can fix any paint issue, ensuring your car looks great and is protected from further damage. Regular maintenance, such as waxing, polishing, and applying protective coatings, can also help keep your car’s paint in top condition, even in Miami’s challenging environment. If you’re facing any of these common paint problems, don’t hesitate to contact Superior Exotics Color & Paint to schedule a consultation and get your car looking as good as new.

[alfredofernandez0032]

A Guide to Choosing the Right Aluminum Fence for Your Miami Home

When it comes to fencing options for Miami homeowners, aluminum fences are an excellent choice, offering a blend of security, aesthetics, and durability. Unlike wood or chain link fences, an aluminum fence is low-maintenance and versatile, ideal for the city’s humid, coastal climate. This guide will walk you through the essential factors to consider when selecting the perfect aluminum fence Miami solution for your property.

1. Why Choose an Aluminum Fence?

Aluminum fences have become popular for a variety of reasons, especially in coastal cities like Miami. First, they resist corrosion and rust, which is crucial given the salty air. Aluminum is also incredibly durable and can withstand high winds, making it ideal for Miami’s occasional tropical storms. Beyond practicality, an aluminum fence adds a modern, clean look to your property, increasing curb appeal while providing a strong boundary.

2. Selecting the Right Style

Aluminum fencing comes in various styles, from flat-top to spear-top and everything in between. Each design has a distinct look and purpose:

Flat-Top Styles: For a modern, streamlined look, flat-top aluminum fences offer clean lines and unobstructed views, which work well with contemporary home designs.

Spear-Top Designs: If security is your primary concern, spear-top styles deter potential intruders while adding an elegant touch.

3. Choose the Right Height

Choosing the right height for your aluminum fence will depend on its intended use. For purely decorative purposes or boundary delineation, a shorter fence (3 to 4 feet) may suffice. However, for privacy or security, you may want a taller fence (5 to 6 feet) to prevent easy access.

4. Decide on Coating and Color

One of the great benefits of aluminum fencing is the variety of colors and finishes available. Standard colors include black, bronze, white, and green, allowing you to choose one that complements your home’s exterior. Powder-coated finishes not only enhance the fence’s appearance but also improve its resistance to weathering and fading.

5. Installation and Maintenance Tips

A key advantage of aluminum fence Miami solutions is their low-maintenance nature. Unlike wood, which may require frequent painting or sealing, aluminum fences only need occasional cleaning with soap and water. Additionally, if installed correctly by professionals, aluminum fences can withstand years of weather exposure without significant wear and tear.

6. Enhancing Security with Aluminum Fencing

If security is a primary reason for choosing a fence, aluminum is an ideal choice due to its strength. You can add locking mechanisms or automatic gates for added convenience and security. Since aluminum is not easily climbable and is resistant to bending or breaking, it provides a reliable security barrier for your property.

7. Working with Professionals

Installing an aluminum fence requires precision to ensure stability and longevity. Hiring a professional fencing company ensures that your fence is installed to withstand Miami’s weather while meeting your design and security needs. They can help you navigate any local regulations or permits that may be required.

[repelprotect]

6 Common Household Pests in Nairobi That Could Be Living in Your Home

Living in Nairobi's vibrant environment comes with its unique challenges, and household pests are one of them. Many homeowners might be surprised to learn that their homes could be harboring unwanted guests. Understanding these common pests is the first step toward maintaining a healthy, pest-free home. Here are six prevalent household pests you should know about:

1.       German Cockroaches These resilient insects are perhaps the most common household pests in Nairobi homes. Unlike their larger cousins, German cockroaches are smaller but reproduce much faster. They particularly love warm, humid environments like kitchens and bathrooms. Look out for:

·         Small, light brown to tan insects about 1.5 cm long

·         Creatures scurrying away when you turn on lights

·         Dark droppings that resemble coffee grounds

·         A musty odor in kitchen cabinets or behind appliances

Pest Control in Nairobi

House Rats and Mice Nairobi's urban environment provides perfect conditions for rodents to thrive. These pests are not just a nuisance; they can cause significant damage to your property and pose serious health risks. Watch for:

·         Scratching sounds in walls or ceilings, especially at night

·         Small, dark droppings in corners or along walls

·         Gnaw marks on food packages or wooden structures

·         Greasy marks along walls and floorboards where they frequently travel

Bedbugs With increased global travel and second-hand furniture trade, bedbugs have become increasingly common in Nairobi homes. These nocturnal feeders can be particularly distressing because they feed on human blood. Signs include:

·         Small, itchy red bites, often in a line or cluster

·         Tiny blood stains on bedsheets

·         Dark spots on mattresses or furniture (bedbug droppings)

·         Small, rust-colored insects in mattress seams or furniture joints

Sugar Ants These tiny invaders are attracted to sweet and sticky substances in your kitchen. While they don't pose direct health risks, they can contaminate food and become a persistent nuisance. Look for:

·         Trails of tiny black or brown ants in your kitchen

·         Ants around food storage areas or spills

·         Small ant nests in wall voids or under kitchen cabinets

·         Increased ant activity during warm weather

Pest Control in Nairobi

Termites Nairobi's climate creates perfect conditions for termite colonies to thrive. These silent destroyers can cause extensive structural damage before being detected. Watch out for:

Mud tubes on exterior walls

Hollow-sounding wooden structures

Damaged or bubbling paint

Discarded wings near windows or doors

Visible wood damage with a honeycomb pattern

House Flies While common, house flies are more than just an annoyance. They can spread numerous diseases by contaminating food and surfaces. Be aware of:

Increased fly activity around garbage areas

Clusters of flies near windows

Small, dark spots where flies rest (fly specks)

Maggots in organic waste or garbage

Prevention Tips:

Maintaining a pest-free home requires ongoing vigilance and proper preventive measures:

Seal entry points around your home, including small cracks and gaps

Keep your kitchen clean and store food in airtight containers

Fix water leaks promptly to reduce moisture that attracts pests

Regular cleaning and decluttering to eliminate hiding spots

Proper garbage management and disposal

Regular inspection of second-hand furniture before bringing it home

When to Seek Professional Help:

While some minor pest issues can be handled with DIY methods, certain signs indicate it's time to call professionals:

Persistent pest problems despite preventive measures

Signs of multiple pest types

Structural damage

Health concerns for family members

Large infestations

Pest Control in Nairobi

Understanding these common household pests is crucial for every Nairobi homeowner. Early detection and professional intervention can prevent these unwanted guests from becoming a serious problem. Regular inspection of your home and maintaining good hygiene practices are your first line of defense against these common pests.

Remember, seeing one or two pests usually indicates a larger population hiding within your home. If you notice any of these signs, it's essential to act promptly to protect your home and family's well-being.

Contact Repel Pest Management for a thorough inspection and effective, safe pest control solutions tailored to your Nairobi home.

[nsdetailandwrap]

How to Prepare Your Vehicle for a Detail and Wrap Service

Professional wraps transform vehicles into one-of-a-kind works of art. They can include carbon fiber, matte black, chrome, brushed metal, camouflage or other designs to reflect your personal style or promote your business.

Before wrapping, technicians thoroughly wash and inspect the vehicle. Any scratches, dents, rust or damage must be repaired before the detail and wrap service is applied.

Paint Preparation

Painting can provide a great look to any vehicle, and is ideal for those looking for long-term aesthetics. However, paint jobs take a lot of time for surface preparation and dry time. This can leave the vehicle in the shop for a week or more.

In comparison, a wrap can be applied in about a day or two. This is because the first step of a wrap involves cleaning and examining the vehicle for any existing damage or rust that could hinder the application process.

This is a crucial part of any painting job, and must be taken seriously to ensure the results are superior. This includes washing, sanding, and fixing any damaged surfaces before applying primer. This process establishes the foundation of the paint, promoting improved adhesion throughout and durability. A poorly prepared surface will not only cause premature peeling, but may result in a mediocre finish overall. This is why it is important to choose a qualified professional for the job.

Vinyl Preparation

The surface where you’ll be applying the vinyl needs to be thoroughly cleaned and dry. Start by washing it with mild soap and water. Rinse it well and allow it to completely dry before scheduling your vinyl installation. You should also make sure that the area is free of debris and that any loose items have been tied or secured. Once the surface is clean, wipe it down with a cloth soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Let the alcohol evaporate completely before continuing. This step is especially helpful on textured surfaces and can help the vinyl adhere better. It will also reduce the risk of bubbles after application.

Sealant Preparation

Sealants are a great option for those looking for a higher-gloss finish with added durability. They are also easy to apply for any level detailer, as compared to waxes that require much more skill.

Surface preparation is an essential step for any sealant application. It's important to ensure that the surfaces are clean and free of contaminants that may inhibit adhesion. Dirt, dust, adsorbent oil, cement slurry and rust are common contaminants found in building joints and must be removed thoroughly.

Using the right tools to remove these contaminants is important. Avoid abrasive brushes or sponges as they can scratch the vehicle's finish, causing damage that can lead to premature failure. It's also critical to blot the wrapped surfaces instead of rubbing them, as this creates friction and can cause the wrap to lift. Once the surface is clean, it should be allowed to air dry in a shaded area. This prevents water spots and heat damage to the wrap.

Installation

The wrapping process is intricate and varies from vehicle to vehicle. Technicians use heat guns and squeegees to ensure a smooth finish. Some installers apply primer or sealants to enhance adhesion on challenging surfaces. -Surface Preparation: Vehicles must be impeccably clean to ensure proper wrap adhesion. Washes should be gentle with a top-down approach to avoid lifting edges or damaging paint beneath the wrap.

-Even the smallest of mistakes can detract from a wrap's appearance and durability. Attention to detail is vital, including removing air bubbles, wrinkling, misaligned panels, and seams that are not perfectly aligned.

When choosing a wrap shop, consider its reputation and experience. Look for reviews and ratings on Yelp, Google, Facebook, and other social media sites. Check out a wrap shop's portfolio of past work to assess the quality of its workmanship. Ask a potential wrap installer about their experience with different products and application techniques. The more knowledgeable a wrap technician is, the better the outcome of your project.

[atplblog]

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