Water...

Water, water, water.... where it doesn't belong!!!! AAAUGH!!! Last week our water heater leaked and by the time we discovered it there was an inch of water in the unfinished part of the basement. WHAT A MESS!!! Fortunately nothing of too much value was irreparably damaged. Thank you, God! We did need a new water heater though. We had been renting until last year when the company informed us that they were no longer in the business of renting and so we bought it out. Murphy's Law! It wasn't even 6 yrs old. We still have oil heat in the house (the furnace is relatively new so we don't want to change to gas yet) but to replace the water tank with another oil one would have been $1700!!! So we decided to switch to electric, which will cost a bit more to run, but was almost $1000 less to purchase. Tim also saved us some money by doing the wiring himself - my hero! :-) BTW, we used Hammond Plumbing for the first time and were VERY happy with their service - they were friendly, neat, courteous, and quick. Hammond Plumbing & Heating Inc - 625 Wabanaki Drive, Kitchener, (519) 894-3222.

Other house stuff: We still have a pile of work to do in the basement to get things back in order, but yesterday we did some other rearranging in the living room. We decided we will bring the TV upstairs and put it in the entertainment unit (from Jenn! THANKS!) :-) Then we''ll move the computer & filing cabinet out of our bedroom to my "Scrapping Cave" where the TV was. It will be nice to have some room in the bedroom - we're pretty cramped in there right now.

Dad update: he's holding steady. He's not likely to improve, but he's not in crisis-mode like he was a few weeks ago. Dr. Donna Ward thinks that we have a few more months together - perhaps even the rest of this year.

Our wonderful neighbourhood: The other day Tim and Ben were walking around the block when a neighbour lady ran back into her house and came out with a cute little stuffed horse for Ben. What a sweet thing to do! Ben carried it tightly under his arm for the walk and the rest of the evening - he even had to take it to bed that night.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

- Marcel Proust