See, I'm lucky, as I've never seen Tub Girl. Or maybe I've successfully repressed it.

Does anyone ever have good experiences with home repairs these days? I don't know if we just have bad luck, but it seems like stuff always goes wrong, or people fuck up the job the first time, or they flat-out lie.

My landlord recently did a pretty good job of magically making a new ceiling fixture appear in my kitchen, and back when I first moved in had a plumber at my door to fix the constantly flushing toilet within an hour of me calling him. (Thank God for Flapper-era plumbing and wiiiiide toilet traps—though everything in the bathroom was a bit soggy from the aeration the toilet bowl drained as fast as the flush could refill it despite who knows how many hours of brokenness.) Still waiting on the plaster repair for my bedroom ceiling, though, which is merely a cosmetic problem rather than functional.

The Tub Guy was called by the landlord, right?

No, that's part of the frustrating thing. This guy was recommended by a neighbor of ours who is a super-neat, super-picky old lady. We weren't trying to get the cheapest possible guy; we wanted it done right. And now this guy is looking at our sink, shaking is head, and saying he doesn't know what the problem is. And clearly not wanting to fix it.

Grrr. I need a pocket!Vortex I can pull out and brandish at times like this.

So the weather is all nice and stuff, so I bought a new pair of Birkenstocks. These are a new type that have leather straps instead of suede. The leather is fairly stiff, and I can tell already by the way one strap rubs my toe that I'm gonna get a blister there.

Any ideas on how to preempt blisters?

moleskin on the shoe? moleskin on your toe?

I had pretty good luck with the people we've called for home repairs - including the guy we just called out of the book. I hated almost everyone we got through our " home warranty service" . Only the water heater guy did a good job. Since you got the recommendations through a neighbor - let him know you'll be going back to her. Also , if you find a good person -ask them for recommendations for people that do other jobs. I also tell repair people that I am keeping a list of people so I can reuse the people I like. I tell service people that money is not my top priority. I think doing good job means people should get paid. Right now I'm looking for a tree guy. We have a huge number of trees that will need attention through out the years- so I want some one that I can keep calling back.

moleskin on the shoe? moleskin on your toe?

I had no idea such a thing existed. But that's sorta' what I was imagining to be the ideal solution.

Better than preemptive (or postemptive) Band-Aids, anyway.

I had to do an experimental improv lunch but it turned out delicious.

I was going to do a quesadilla but we only have two tortilla left and I wanted to save those for Emmett and my MiL when they got back from the park.

So I opted to use pita bread.

I cut it in half and split each half open. I spread them with cream cheese. I cut up some black olives and stuffed those in. Some ham and some salami got folded and stuffed. Ran them under the broiler until they were cooked on both sides and the cheese was melty and the meat was heated. Then I finished the pita sandwiches by putting in half a tomato chopped up and drizzled with balsamic and pepper. It was sooooo good.

Oh. I should eat. Huh.

Oh. I should eat. Huh.

Put something in your piehole, Missy!