on the up and up

So, Friday morning started out rough (another pipe burst - outside our building - which meant lots of workers digging a huge hole in the ground right outside Erin Ashley's kitchen window and no running water for all the apartments while they fixed the pipe).

I was really frustrated. How much more of this could I take? I was past the point of laughing and wondering what could possibly go wrong next. I was ready to walk out my front door and just keep on walking..... to where? Not sure. I was just going to walk til I got tired and decided to stop. At the very least, the place I chose to stop would probably have running water and a store that would sell me a new cell phone! [We rarely use our land line, so a cell phone is really my link to the whole world, or so it seems.]

But I stayed put. After all, someone has to stick around and finish the 24 pack of diet coke I just bought, right?

And I am glad I stayed. The water did come back. My washer hose has not flooded the bathroom since Thursday. I bought a new cell phone last night. The first worker showed up at 8:15 this morning to start wall repairs. A friend is pretty sure he has killed the computer virus (but there is still a slim chance that it has mutated and is 'hiding' from all the virus-detecting and virus-killing software).

The girls are spending the morning at Xiao Li's house where they are making pancakes and - I'm sure - having a grand time. It's just me and Isaac (and the wall-repair man, of course!). And I am grateful that things around here are on the up and up.

Oh, that the "slow-paced, laid-back, restful July" that I have been dreaming of would finally show up!

[I will post again soon with some recent photos - the camera needs to be virus checked and cleaned before I can upload to my (hopefully) virus free computer - and I have no idea how to do that myself, so I've got to wait til Matt can help me.]