It doesn't compare but my upstairs toilet is currently a very disgusting clogged up mess. Im trying to work up the energy, and stomach, to go deal with it some more.

Weird huh? Never had a single issue with the place the 2.5 years that I was a tenant.

I did have some pretty funny news last week when the electrician came by to work on a list I had for him. It included the garbage disposal that hadn't worked since summer of 2010. A plumber had looked at it and said I needed a replacement, but I had my trusy electrician take a look, too. Um. He tried plugging it in and found that the outlet wasn't "hot". It did work when plugged into an extension cord. So, he investigated the garbage disposal switch.

I have a night light in the kitchen, plugged in, and it turns out that it's so big it covered up the "re-set" button . He took the night light off, pressed the button back in, and the switch for the garbage disposal worked. HAHAHAHA! I told him I was the happiest idiot ever!

ETA: Stephanie, Tom and I were both VERY grateful that the flood was "clean water" from the toilet!!

If you have time this coming weekend, we could get together and pick apples and then I could make a pie or cake or crisp and we could watch a movie or something. Which isn't your home, but at least it's a home...

Awww thanks but I am leaving Friday for a weekend at my (surrogate) sister's "ranch" north of Sacramento.

But if you can use apples for pie or canning or whatever, you're WELCOME to them! That goes for the ZMayhem's too (and any other localistas!). The back gate is unlocked.

Contagious-disease fans should definitely read Pox Americana,

I second the motion. Also, everyone should read Rats, Lice and History. The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, about a London cholera outbreak, is pretty good until the author, who likes to hear himself talk a little too much, goes on a weird tangent about urban planning.

That reminds me that I really should read my copy of Gina Kolata's Flu, about the 1918 Influenza

The Great Influenza is better. And it's the size of a Neil Stephenson novel - Flu is practically a puff piece in comparison.

I'm going apple-picking next weekend, but I wish I was going to Javachik's tree instead!

I'm going apple-picking next weekend, but I wish I was going to Javachik's tree instead!

I do, too!

The Great Influenza is sitting in my TBR pile. I keep picking it up, weighing it in my hand, and putting it back down.

The Great Influenza is better. And it's the size of a Neil Stephenson novel

Hhhhmmmm, a good Kindle possibility! First I need to finish the ESPN history book and the Amanda Knox trial book.

In case everyone was dying to know, I fixed the toilet. Thank goodness because I've been more prone to queasiness since pregnant and I could not have handled any more ick.

The garbage disposal story is funny. I wish your electrician was closer. We have this thing in the house where the outlets you would use the most are loose? sort of so nothing stays plugged in to them and everything requires a certain amount of jiggling before you get a connection. That is my first thing to fix once I know the house is mine.

There are so many books I want to read--the new Stephen Greenblatt book, among them. I swear, once of these days I will take the time to sit and read a whole book in a couple of days like I used to.

I had no idea that gummy bears soaked in vodka are the new jello shots.